Rayne
by Reiko Svit-Kona
Summary: "I ran away." Not a lie, but not exactly true. 'Ran away' and 'escaped' were interchangeable in her mind. 'Ran away' just seemed less… drastic. GaaraXOC
1. Prologue

Finally! The first chapter is up! I have been working on this story's outline for months and it is finally ready to be written. Crappy summary and an even worse title but please give it a chance. I promise it will be better than the first horrendous story I wrote. Thanks and Enjoy. (By the way, I do not own anything but my own character, the rest all belongs to Naruto's creator Masashi Kishimoto )

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Prologue

The young Kazekage sat motionless, perched like a gargoyle. His pale gray-green eyes were fixed on one location.

_Where is she?_

He sat in his favorite spot in the village, the roof of his house. He had spent countless nights here. A cold breeze ruffled his blood red hair. Desert nights could be very cold. He shivered, but still continued to watch the flat roof of the house across the street. He was slightly disappointed. It was almost morning and there was no sign of her.

_Her_

He smirked. He didn't even know her name. He knew nothing about the girl he was looking for. She fascinated him though. For reasons he wasn't sure of, she would sleep out on the roof of the house across the street, and he would sit on his roof and wait for her. After he was sure she had fallen asleep, he would return to his room and go to bed. He knew it was wrong to be watching her like this, but he couldn't help it. Ever since the first night he saw her, he had been drawn to her. He sighed. He could still vividly remember that night

_He laid with his back on the warm tiles of the roof unable to sleep. He still wasn't used to sleeping. It had only been two weeks since the "incident". _

_Two weeks since he had died…_

_Two weeks since Shukaku had been removed from him…_

_Two weeks since he had been brought back to life by Elder Chiyo…_

_He sighed. Even with the demon gone he still had trouble sleeping. He had yet to get use to it, which was why he found himself on the roof of his house at three in the morning. He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. His house was too noisy to sleep in anyways. His older brother snored was snoring loudly that night and his older sister often played the radio all night. He laid there enjoying the silence now. He was about to fall asleep when he head a door slam in the distance. He kept his eyes closed and listened. He picked up a familiar smell._

_Blood._

_He sat up and looked across the street. The roof across the street was flat. There was a door up there where the stairs connected the roof to the rest of the building. There was a figure near the door. Lucky for the young man there was almost a full moon allowing him light to see. The person wore a cloak but he guessed from their size it was a female. He watched as the person stumbled away from the door. Her knees gave out and she collapsed to the ground. He watched for movement after that but there wasn't any. He concentrated. Maybe she was a shinobi. He searched, but was unable to sense her chakra. He assumed she was either dead or a civilian._

_The young Kazekage hopped down onto a platform of sand that he summoned and silently drifted over to the other roof. He landed on the roof with a quiet "thump". He walked over to the fallen girl to investigate. It was his job as Kazekage to know what was happening in his village after all. It was a young girl probably a year or two younger than him, if not the same age. Her one arm laid across her, the other at her side. Her cloak covered her but he could tell she was quite thin. Some of her dark hair was pushed behind a pointed ear. There were multiple piercing in her ear. A mask covered her face from the nose down, much like Hatake Kakashi of the hidden leaf. Her bangs swooped over her eyes. There was fresh blood splattered on her mask and clothing. He reached out to touch her, to see if she was still alive. She took deep breath and he quickly pulled his arm back leaving it firmly at his side. He looked at her face. From the little he could see it was peaceful and relaxed. There were dark circles under her eyes. He clenched his fist and took a step back as she turned her head a little. She must have been just sleeping. He couldn't help but wonder who she was. He took one last look at her then turned around and returned to his roof. He decided to leave her. It doesn't matter what she was doing, as long as it didn't disturb things in his village. She wasn't his problem. He jumped back into his window and got into bed. He couldn't stop thinking about her though. When he got up the next morning she was gone._

That was over a month ago. Since then she had shown up to that roof almost every night and had slept there. He allowed himself to watch this girl but he had set one two important rules.

1. He must never been seen by her or approach her.

2. Unless it directly involved his village, he wouldn't do anything that involved her.

The young man cursed as the sun started to rise. He had not seen Her and he didn't have a chance to sleep. He scowled as the sun climbed higher, chasing away all reminisce of the night. A voice from inside his house called for him and he quickly jumped back inside. He mentally reminded himself of his rules, like he did every morning. He quickly got dressed and ready for work.

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Well there it is! Hope you are interested because I have a lot more story coming. Please let me know what you think. Your opinions are very important. Also, I must apologize for any spelling/grammar errors. I looked through it but I may have missed a few things. I will have my proof-reader (*coughcough* Shelbie *coughcough*) look through it next time. She was not feeling well and taking a nap at the time I posted this and I just couldn't wait. Well like I said please read and rate...

~Reiko


	2. Chapter 1

I am proud to present the next chapter of my lovely story. I would also like to thank my wonderful should-be-editor Shelbie for getting me sick. I am sitting on my couch dying because of her hahaha. She was still sick so was also unable to proof read this chapter so that job has fallen to my sister Kyra. If the grammar is horrible then blame her. If its fine then thanks and I love ya Kyra. Well please enjoy and I only own my character and my story line. Everything else belongs to Naruto's creator Masashi Kishimoto .

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Ch.1

Gaara stepped outside into the bright Suna sun. He immediately shielded his eyes with his hand as he looked around. Kankuro closed the door to their house behind him.

"Lovely day isn't it Gaara?" he joked as he nudged his younger brother.

Gaara rolled his eyes. It wasn't his idea to walk to work today. He would have been perfectly fine with teleporting to work with his sand technique like he normally did but no, Kankuro had insisted on walking today. He said it was to work on his "image" with the citizens. Gaara walked ahead, annoyed leaving Kankuro to catch up.

The two siblings walked down the crowded streets, passing through large throngs of people. Some of the citizens waved and greeted them. Kankuro waved back. Gaara didn't.

"Come on Gaara, you need to be friendlier. The people would like you more if you didn't always look so grumpy"

Gaara glared at him, which scared Kankuro just a little.

"Fine, I'll drop it then" they walked silently for a few moments "Oh, I was going to ask. Did you hear about that strange disappearance last night?"

"No" replied Gaara, emotionless. His mind was too focused on the girl who hadn't shown up last night.

"Really, well it's what everyone in the village is talking about right now. Apparently two guys were attacked on their way home late last night" explained Kankuro as he walked next to his younger brother. Gaara simply nodded to show he was listening. "The one guy escaped but his friend was killed and taken away. They haven't found any trace of him. The guy that got away has gone completely crazy. He keeps ranting about a demon woman who came out of nowhere and attacked them with inhuman speed."

Gaara's thoughts suddenly flashed to _her_. Was that why she didn't show up last night? Was it because she had something to do with what happened? If anyone had been paying close attention they would have possibly seen that quick look of shock that passed over the young Kazekage's face. Gaara quickly swiped the thought from his mind. She was just a normal person. He assured himself that there was nothing special about her. "Interesting" he said, lacking emotion.

"Someone's talkative today" laughed Kankuro. The two continued their walk in silence.

Gaara soon became aware of a small commotion behind them. He ignored it for the moment and continued walking. The shouting was getting louder and closer. Gaara stopped and turned around to see a young girl running through the street followed by three sand chunin. Kankuro also turned around, having noticed Gaara had stopped.

She gracefully dodged through the crowd, causing more shouts and gasps from the surprised citizens. Her reddish brown hair glowed like fire in the sun. A mask covered her lower face. Gaara took a step back to avoid her as she jumped past him. Time seemed to slow. She turned her head to look at him as she passed by. She stared at him with deep hazel eyes, making the hair on the back on his neck stand up. He instantly recognized the girl. It was _her_, the girl from the roof. He stood there stunned as she disappeared into the mass of people and shops ahead of them.

The shinobi chasing her came up beside them, panting.

"What the hell was that about?" asked Kankuro

"Damn," panted the one in the front. "She got away… again."

"Who is she?"

"She's a thief" answered one of the others. "We've been chasing her around all week, but can't catch her. She's just too fast."

"No one can catch her," said the third. "We aren't the only ones who have tried. People are suspecting she had something to do with the incident last night too"

_What? impossible…_ Gaara couldn't believe it. He had watched her. She had never shown any signs of being more than just a normal citizen. He could let her go on without his interfering if she was a petty thief but not if she was killing people. Kankuro nudged him.

"Gaara,"

"What?"

"You were just staring off into space. You okay?"

Gaara had gotten lost in his thoughts without realizing it. "I'm fine. Good luck in your search. We must be going now" He turned around and walked away leaving his brother and the three chunin standing there confused.

"Gaara…wait up!" Kankuro called after him. "Hey" he said as he caught up. "What's with you, it's not like you to space out like that. Is there something wrong?"

"No, I promise you I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something?" he asked, concerned.

"You're imagining it. I said I'm fine. Let's just get to work."

"Alright Gaara, if you say so…" said his unconvinced older brother.

Gaara tried to forget about what just happened. _Why should I care about her? She's not my problem… yet._ He cleared his mind as he walked up to the building his office was in. It was a busy day at work and all thoughts of _her_ were quickly shoved to the back of his mind.

Gaara scowled as he checked the clock on the wall…

2:34 am…

He was stuck at work late again. He turned the lights in the office off and headed out of the building. It was mostly empty outside, save for a few drunks, whores, homeless and people like him coming home late from work. He hurried his pace, not because he was afraid, but because he was trying to get home as soon as possible.

Something caught his eye as he passed by an alley way next to one of his sister's favorite restaurants. A group of three shinobi were all gathered around something at the back of an alley. They were the same three from earlier. _What are they doing now?_ The person in the middle picked someone up from the ground by the front of their shirt. They wore a hooded cloak that covered their face.

"What do you have to say now bitch? Eh? You're not so tough now!" He punched the person in the stomach. They coughed as the wind was knocked out of them but they did not cry out or protest.

"Is that all you got?" challenged a female voice weakly.

"You made fools of all of us, you know that? One little brat escapes three chunin. We're going to make you regret that."

The girl remained silent. The guy threw her against the wall. Her head hit the wall with a sickening crack, and her hood fell back as she slumped on the wall. Gaara's breath caught for a moment when her saw her. It was the girl from the roof… again. Somehow she just kept showing up.

"Hold her. I'm going to make her beg for her life" laughed the leader of the group. She did nothing to free or protect herself as the leader came at her with punches and kicks. She still remained silent.

Gaara stood there unnoticed. He knew he needed to help her, or she could die. But there were his rules, he had already broken the first one. Breaking both in one day would be a bad thing to do. He wouldn't let himself get involved in any way with a trouble maker like her. He was Kazekage, he couldn't afford to be recognized with thieves and criminals. He didn't want to cause problems and she was definitely going to cause them... then again, he had already broken the rules, what did it matter if he broke the other one? He was never one for rules. They were meant to be broken. The more he thought about it, he realized he really didn't care what people thought about him. He was the fucking Kazekage and he could do whatever the hell he wanted to. Plus, if she died here tonight there would be no need for the rules to begin with. There was something about this girl, something that made him want to save her. _I need to find out what she is doing here_, he thought, making up an excuse for himself. He knew he shouldn't, but he had to intervene. He stepped out of the shadows.

"What's going on here" he said, his voice frighteningly cold.

They all stopped what they were doing and looked up. There was a clang as someone's kunai dropped and the girl fell to the ground.

"Oh, Kazekage-sama, what are you doing out here so late?" asked the leader of the group nervously. Gaara could smell the alcohol on his breath. He realized they were all drunk.

"I'm asking the questions here"

"Well you see, this is the girl that was causing all the problems earlier. We finally caught her and… well…"

"This is how you handle it?" he interrupted

"Hai sir, she's a monster and can't go unpunished" replied one of the others

_Monster_ The word echoed through his head. How many times had he been called a monster, all because he was different?

"Leave now, I'll handle this. You are to never do anything like this again. Leave the punishments to people whose job it is to do so."

"H-Hai sir" they all stuttered. They all left quickly running past Gaara.

He turned and watched them all scurry away. He waited for a few moments to make sure they were gone before turning around. He stood where he was, unwilling to move. She wasn't moving but she lay sprawled out on the ground, breathing heavily. He watched, trying to decide what to do.

_This day is just full of eventful things isn't it?_

"Are you going… to do something" she asked weakly, "or are… you going to just stand there?" She winced as she tried to move. The Kazekage walked over to her and looked down to where she was lying. His crossed his arms over his chest.

"Who are you?" he asked coldly

"What does it matter?"

"What were you thinking? Those guys would have killed you"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him "Your point?"

_Just what were you doing?_ "Where you trying to get yourself killed?"

She laughed coldly. It was pained and sent chills down his spine. "So what if I was? What's it to you?"

"Don't you know not to pick fights if you can't fight back?"

"Who said I couldn't" She had started to shiver. Whether from cold, fear or something else entirely, he couldn't tell.

"Then why didn't you?" She wasn't making any sense right now. Was she really trying to get herself killed?

"They just… caught me at a bad time."

"What do you mean?"

"None of your business" She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain, but she continued to act tough.

"I saved your life just now. You could at least tell me what's going on"

"I never asked you to" she replied harshly

"They would have killed you, had I not stepped in"

"I would have _handled _it" she growled

"Really now?" questioned the red-head. Her stubbornness had now started to amuse him. "Didn't look like it to me"

"Whatever" The girl curled her knees up and clutched her chest. "Just get away from me." She suddenly groaned in pain and dug her nails into her skin. She gasped for air as she curled up tighter.

"You need to go to the hospital" _She doesn't look like she in any shape to go anywhere though. I guess I have to help her then… how troublesome. _He almost smirked at how much he sounded like the leaf shinobi his sister was seeing. "Let me-"

She quickly interrupted him "No! I said get away from me"

Gaara sighed "I can't leave you here. You need help." He crouched down besides her and reached out to grab her. Her skin was hot. He could feel it even with his hand a foot away from her.

"Don't touch me" growled the girl.

"You need to get to a hospital. I'll take care of everything so don't worry about it" _Why did I just say that? I don't even know her, so why am I offering to help?_ He reached for her again but she continued to protest.

"I said no!" Gaara stood up and backed away a little. "I c-can't go to… the hospital. There's nothing they could do for me." she panted. "You wouldn't understand." The girl cringed as another wave of pain hit her. "Go away… _please_!" She cried out in pain. Gaara could only watch as she squirmed in agony. He took another step closer.

"No!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't come any closer" Her voice now sounded scared. _She's begging me to leave… _The girl once again cried out. He again could only watch. Her nails dug into her shoulders harder, drawing blood under the white T-shirt she wore. After a few moments her hands relaxed. Her body remained tense, shaking a little.

"What did they do to you?" _This isn't normal. What's happening to her?_ Another question then popped into his head._ Why do I care so much_?

"Nothing"

"Then what was that?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing?"

"Go away"

"Is there something wrong with you?" _That didn't come out right…_

She was silent for a moment then, "Maybe" She said it so quietly he almost didn't hear her.

"What?"

"You ask too many questions. It's none of your business"

This worried Gaara a little. Not only was she hurt but she was also sick. He knew he had to get her out of there. If she wouldn't go to a hospital there was really only one place left to go, once place he knew she would be safe. He leaned down and picked her up in his arms, wrapping her cloak around her.

She weakly tried to push away from him but didn't have the strength. "I said don't touch me. I already said I won't go. Leave me alone!"

"We're not going to the hospital." She was hot, literally. He could feel the intense heat from her between all the layers of clothing.

"Put me down or I will kill you"

"You are in no position to be making threats girl."

"I-" She coughed hard a few times. Flecks of blood hit her white shirt, staining it.

"Calm down or I'm going to drop you" he sighed. This was getting annoying. For someone who was dying she sure had a lot of energy left to argue.

"Damn it… What the fuck is wrong with you? Why won't' you just leave me alone. I don't want help, especially from the Kazekage. It would be bad for both of us if certain people saw me with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, go away…" she sighed in frustration.

"It's my job to take care of the people of the Sand village."

"For the last time, I don't need your help. I can take care of myself. I'm not even a-" Her sentence was cut short as she growled and clutched her chest. Gaara could feel her temperature flare up again. It rose to an impossible temperature. She coughed violently, spitting up more blood onto her shirt and his. She clutched at her chest harder.

"We're done arguing about this. If you don't get help your going to die. We're leaving." She weakly shook her head but sand swirled around them and they were gone.

Sand swirled in a dark room. Gaara appeared, still holding the girl.

"Temari! I need help!"

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Well what did you think? Please let me know. Just some trivia for you; according to a survey that i just made up, sick people get better 70% faster when lovely readers review their stories ;) So please help me feel better. Spring break is in 3 days so I will have plenty of time for writing and updating this story, if I am feeling better that is. Plus I need at least three reviews before I post the next chapter. Hahaha thanks for reading.

Reiko


	3. Chapter 2

Well I said I would wait till I had more reviews before putting this chapter up but I got tired of waiting. I guess my story isn't good enough for people to review... good thing I don't let things like that get me down T_T. Nope, not at all *cries in the corner*... Anyways, enjoy chapter 2 and I don't own anything but my characters.

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Ch. 2

"Temari! Temari, I need help. Get out here." called Gaara calmly

"Don't do this" hissed the girl as she fought back more screams of pain.

There was no response at first but then a door opened. Gaara set the girl on the couch. A light flicked on and a blond woman stood in the doorway that connected the living room and kitchen. She wore baggy black sweatpants, and a lavender tank-top. She yawned.

"Gaara what's going-" she gasped. Her hand flew up to her mouth. "Holy shit! What the hell happened?" she asked as she noticed the injured girl on the sofa.

"I need your help. My friend is hurt and sick."

"Why'd you bring her here Gaara? She needs to get to a hospital"

"She refuses to go."

"Why?"

"I don't know" he growled "Are you going to help her or not?"

Temari hesitated for a moment. "Just give me a few moments." She ran down the hallway to get supplies.

Gaara took a deep breath. _Why is my heart racing like this?_ He resisted the urge to place his hand over his chest.

"What the hell?"

The Kazekage turned around to see his older brother standing in the door way.

"Kankuro" he stated plainly.

"Gaara, what did you do? What's going on?"

"I didn't do this. I helped when she was attacked. She is injured and sick so I brought her here. She needed help."

Gaara looked down at Her. She was curled up on the sofa, still clutching her chest. She was trembling violently and covered in sweat. Now that they were in the light could see her much more clearly. She had long black cargo pants on and black shinobi sandals. She had on a tight fitting white T-shirt, which was stained with blood and dirt. She also had leather bracelets worn around her wrists, covering them. She still had her black hooded cloak on. The tips of her very pointed ears stuck out of her long red-brown hair. She was thin, unnaturally so, like she hadn't had a decent meal in a while. Her arms were covered in bruises and cuts that continued to bleed, probably from her recent attack. A small spot of blood continued to seep through the right side of her shirt. Her fabric mask was torn and now hung loosely around her neck. She had a split lip and a large gash on her forehead which continued to bleed down the side of her face.

"Why'd you bring her here?" questioned Kankuro.

"She's a friend of mine."

"She looks familiar. Who is she?"

Gaara hoped he would not recognize her from their earlier encounter. He didn't answer. Gaara wasn't sure how to answer. This reminded him of how stupid it was to have brought her into his house. He really knew nothing about her._ That's why I brought her here, to find out more about her for the village's sake._

"Alright, I think I got everything I need" said Temari carrying in a large amount of medical supplies in her arms. Her arrival saved Gaara from having to answer Kankuro's question. He would just have to think of something to tell his siblings later.

Temari placed a thermometer into his hand. He looked at his older sister, confused.

"Go take her temperature"

Gaara observed the instrument. "Umm…" He had never used one before. He didn't know how to.

Temari sighed. "Stick it in her mouth, push the button and keep it there until it beeps. Hurry!"

The young Kazekage sighed in annoyance. He crouched down next to the couch and placed the thermometer into her mouth. Her teeth caught his attention as he did so. The canine's and 1st bicuspids were unusually sharp, like an animal's. For some odd reason the word "Vampire" popped into his head. _Could she have attacked those men for food?_ The thermometer beeped. _What am I saying? There are no such things as vampires_. Gaara reached down and pulled the thermometer out of her mouth. He looked at the reading on the screen but it did not make any sense.

170 degrees

_How's that possible?_

"What does it say Gaara?" asked his sister as she kneeled down next to him and rummaged through her supplies.

"Damn things broken" he scowled.

Temari took the thermometer from him. "170? That's impossible. This things brand-new there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. You're doing it wrong." She placed the thermometer back in the girls mouth. It beeped and she pulled it out. "172? It went up?" The blond woman threw the device across the room. "Piece of crap" she sighed. She stood up, took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips. "You understand that if you don't take her to the hospital she might die? There's only so much I can do for her. I can only do basic things. I'm not a medic, nowhere close"

"That's fine. Just do what you can."

The blond yawned again. "Alright then get out of my way, both of you."

Kankuro steered his younger brother into the kitchen for a cup of tea, and sat at the table with him.

Gaara hid his impatience as he sat waiting. He sat reclined in his chair with his arms behind his head. He was unable to do anything and that bothered him. He was completely useless. Kankuro was soon asleep, his head having fallen on the table. As soon as he did, Gaara was up. He paced around the kitchen sipping his hot tea. He walked past the sink and threw his cup into it. The hot beverage was making him warm and more agitated. He then went back to pacing, flinching as he heard the girl cry out.

_This is going to be a long night._

Temari took a deep breath. She didn't even know where to begin. She was not a medic. Anything she knew how to do was from taking care of herself and Kankuro when they were younger. She had been the oldest. It was her job. She looked down at the girl on the couch and wondered who she was to have gotten Gaara to worry so much.

"Can you hear me?" she asked the girl. She simply nodded. "I'm going to help you so relax alright. Everything...everything is going to be alright" Temari didn't even believe herself. The girl cried out in pain. Her voice was becoming hoarse already. Temari waited a few moments for her to calm down again and the girl soon passed out.

The sand kunoichi started. She removed the girls cloak as gently as possible and cut the fabric mask around the girl's neck. She then proceeded to remove the few necklaces the girl was wearing. She didn't need them getting in the way. She quickly bandaged the girl's arms. She was pretty sure that the girl's wrist was broken but she decided to wait for later before doing anything about it. She wasn't going to be moving enough to damage it right now. Next was the knife wound in the young woman's side. She removed her shirt leaving the girl in just the wrappings all kunoichi wore around their chest. Her eyes widened. Right where her navel was there was a huge scar that spread out in a circle. The edges were jagged and it had to have been 6 inches across, taking up most of her abdomen. How could someone get a scar like that? More importantly how could you live after getting an injury that created a scar like that. She tried to put it out of her mind. She quickly cleaned the knife wound out and stitched it up. She then tightly bound her sides. She had multiple broken ribs. Temari couldn't help but wonder what exactly happened to her. She quickly moved on to the rest of her injuries; cleaning wounds stitching up cuts and scrapes. The girl whimpered in her sleep a few times.

The sand kunoichi yawned again. Coming home from a long day at work and healing some stranger her brother brought home was not what she had planned to do this night. She should be sleeping. She had a mission tomorrow, one which took her all the way to the Hidden Leaf Village. She quickly finished up everything she could.

Temari examined the girl once more before getting up. It was going to be a miracle if she lived. She couldn't understand why Gaara had brought her here. She had no healing abilities to help the girl with. What did he think she could really do? Plus this girl was sick. There was something not right about her. Her fever was way too high. Even if the thermometer was broken, she could feel the heat coming off this girl. She should have been dead already. Yet, here she was passed out on the sofa still breathing. Plus there was something about this girl that didn't seem right. Temari didn't recognize her as a shinobi but she definitely wasn't a normal citizen. She checked the clock.

4:46

So much for getting good night's sleep.

Gaara had flung himself into a kitchen chair, having grown tired of pacing. He drummed his finger on the table. A few minutes his sister came through the door. Gaara jumped up. He barely avoided knocking over the chair.

"Well?" he asked calmly, ignoring the wobbling chair.

"I did the best I could but like I said before I'm obviously not a medic. I think she needs to be taken to a real hospital but if you insist on keeping her here then whatever. All I can tell you is that if she makes it, she makes it. There is nothing more we can do."

"I understand"

She sat down at the table, between her two brothers. "So, what's her name?" She had to be special for Gaara to care so much.

Gaara stood up and walked over to the door way. He looked out into the living room. "Who" he asked

"Your friend" Who else could she be talking about?

Gaara was silent for a while. "I don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know? I thought you said she was a friend of yours."

"I lied"

Temari sat there confused. "What's going-"

"Why don't you just go to bed" he interrupted in a quiet growl.

She starred at him speechless for a few seconds then pusher herself out of her chair. "Whatever. Come on Kankuro, let's go to bed." She shook her brother's shoulder. "Come on."

He woke up and ran his hand over his face. He cursed as he checked the time. "Damn" He shoved himself out of his chair and walked down the long hallway that led to their bedrooms. "Night" he waved.

Gaara didn't even acknowledge him. Temari paused for a moment near the hallway._ What's going on? Who is that girl Gaara? _"Goodnight"

There was no response.

She flicked of the lights and walked down the dark hallway, leaving Gaara alone in the dark kitchen.

He waited till he heard both doors close then walked into the living room. He stood next to the couch. Her cloak was folded at the floor wither her belongs lying on top of it. Her shoes sat next to it. Her breathing was normal. Temari had placed a blanket over her and her arms lay at her sides of top of the blanket. The bright white bandages that were wrapped around her entire arms stood out against the dark fabric. Her two last fingers on her left hand were bandaged together.

He sighed trying to sort out what he was going to do. As he looked down a flash of silver caught his eye. He bent down and picked up a necklace of her pile of stuff. It was a dog tag. The number 742 was on one side along with the name Rayne. A leaf village symbol was on the other. A line was cut through the leaf. _What does this mean?_ He starred at it for a while then tucked it into his pocket and looked out the window on the other side of the room.

"What am I going to do with you? You can't stay in the living room." He spoke quietly to himself. He stood still as he thought for a while. He then summoned up some sand and formed it around his guest. He lifted her up without shifting her at all. He carried her like this down the hallway, passing the bathroom, Temari's room and Kankuro's room. He came to the last door at the end of the hallway and unlocked it from the inside with sand. He stepped into his room.

His room was quite empty. A large bed was pushed into a corner. There were windows along the far wall. A lamp sat on a side table next to the bed. An open door to the left let to a dark bathroom and a closed door to the right of that was a closet. A desk and chair were next to the closet.

Gaara walked across the room. He pulled back the dark red comforter on the bed and then the black sheets. He set the girl down onto his bed and quickly covered her up.

"You can stay here for now but only until you wake up" he said, "but then…"

_What am I doing? She can't even hear me. _He sighed_. You have a lot of explaining to do if you wake up._

The young man closed the heavy curtains over the windows so that the soon to be rising sun wouldn't change the lighting of the room. He pulled his desk chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. All he could do now was wait, hopping that she would recover and wake up soon.

As determined as he was, he was not able to fight off sleep. With nothing to do and the confortable climate of the room he soon became drowsy and after an hour the young red-head was fast asleep in his chair.

The sun had just risen when she woke up. She laid there unable to move.

"_Honey? Are you awake?_" echoed a male voice in her head.

"_No"_ she replied

"_Oh thank the heavens you are okay Rayne! You had me worried you little brat!" _She felt a presence start to smother her.

"_Am I really okay? I can't move."_

"_That's just me"_ replied the voice in her head _"Trust me you don't want to be moving around. I know you, being such a stubborn, reckless child, would have tried to do something stupid."_

"_Whats the damage report?" _asked Rayne

"_Where to even begin?"_ said the voice. Rayne could sense their concern. _"Quite a few cuts and bruises. Your right wrist is broken along with you last two fingers and some ribs. You got a rather large cut on your forehead and a nasty bump on your head. There was also a knife wound above your hip."_

"_Damn…" _she chuckled.

"_I'm glad you find this funny. Those guys really did a number on you. You could have died." _he said remorsefully.

"_It was bad timing is all. If it had been any other time…" _She could feel the regret pouring out of the other being.

He was silent for a while. _"I'm sorry."_

"_For what?" _It was true that she could feel his emotions seeing as they shared her body but his mind was so different she often found it hard to read what he was thinking.

"_It was my fault you were unable to defend yourself. It is my fault you get sick…"_

"_Stop blaming yourself. For the last time it's not your fault Madarou."_

"_But-"_

Rayne cut him off. _"It's that bastard We'll get our revenge though. I promise you. I already told you, he will pay for what he did to us!"_

Madarou sensed the anger and hatred boiling up within her and decided to drop the subject. After a few minutes of silence, Rayne spoke again.

"_Where are we?"_

"_Don't you remember sweetie?"_

"_No, not really. I remember being brought to __a__ house, but I don't remember where."_

"_Well, the Kazekage was kind enough to lend us his room after he brought us to his house."_

"_What?"_

"_What?"_

"_Madarou! Release me now! We have to leave before we are found out. Especially by him! I can't be found by them and sent back. I won't go back there!"_

Madarou could tell she was scared. _"Relax honey. This is exactly why I restricted your movement earlier. That boy knows nothing. You have nothing to worry about for now. I have been hiding your chakra since we first arrived in this city. He has no idea you are even a ninja. Relax and go back to sleep. You need to get better so we can get out of here."_

"_But-"_

"_Sleep!" _commanded Madarou. _"Please, for me? You are no good to either of us in the condition you are in now," _he said gently.

Rayne sighed heavily. _"Fine," _she agreed, finding sense in her partner's words. _"But as soon as I'm better were getting the fuck out of this place."_

Madarou's happiness washed over her. _"Of course," _he replied _"Now sleep and I'll watch out for us."_

Rayne took a deep breath to calm herself and in a few minutes she was back asleep.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Well? What did you think? Please, Please, Please, let me know what you think! Criticism is completely welcome. Well I need to go back to writing the other chapters instead of bugging you lovely readers. I will try to be more productive with my spring break and will have another chapter up in the next two days :)

Reiko


	4. Chapter 3

Well here's chapter 3 and as I write this I am wondering to myself if anyone actually reads these little notes I put at the bottoms and tops of the pages or if I am, like usual, just talking to myself? Well anyways, please enjoy. I don't own anything but my characters and the plot of the story.

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Ch.3

Gaara woke from his light sleep with a start as he heard a door open. He quickly scanned around the room. The girl was still asleep.

"Relax, it's only me" explained his sister. She walked over to the side of the bed. "How is she?" Temari asked, placing her hand on the stranger's forehead. "Her fever is gone. That's good."

"She's still alive. She hasn't woken up yet," answered the Kazekage. He glanced out the door as his brother shuffled past the door, still in sweat pants. "What time is it?"

"A little after nine"

"Damn," he cursed. "Why didn't' you wake me earlier? I was supposed to be at work three hours ago." He got out of his chair only to be shoved back into it by Temari.

"No, I called the office and told them you were not well and won't be coming in today. Kankuro too." She crossed her arms. "Both of you look like shit and need some rest."

"I can't-"

"I said no, plus you need to stay here and watch your "Friend"." She added quotes in the air with her fingers.

Gaara was unhappy but his sister was right. He needed to be here in case She woke up. There were a lot of things they needed to talk about and it would be impossible to do so if she ran off while he was at work. "Fine" he agreed reluctantly. He looked back to the sleeping girl, looking for some sign that she might wake up soon.

Temari placed her hand on his shoulder. "I don't have to leave for my mission for another two hours. Why don't you go get some rest in my room for a little and I'll watch her."

"Not tired"

"Then at least go clean up? Please?"

The Kazekage examined himself. Temari was right; he needed to go clean up. There was dried blood on his shirt and arms. Plus he felt gross and sweaty. It couldn't hurt to take a quick shower. "Fine" he said. He stood up and grabbed some clean clothes out of his closet.

"I promise to let you know if anything changes."

"Alright"

Temari sat down in his chair and opened a magazine that she had been carrying.

"I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Mhmm. Take your time," she hummed as she flipped through pages.

He walked to the door at the side of his room but stopped after he opened the door. "Temari?"

She looked up from her magazine and turned in her chair. "Yeah?'

"Thank you… for everything" he mumbled before walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

"Sure" she smiled to herself. She returned to her magazine.

Rayne's fingers twitched. She had regained motion. She kept her eyes closed. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was. She breathed in deeply through her nose. Her heightened sense allowed her to pick up on things normal humans wouldn't, like the faint smell of blood that filled the room or the scent of the apple-scented shampoo the girl sitting near her had recently used. She cracked her eyes open and looked around.

"So you're awake?" asked the female.

Rayne didn't know why, but she always hated that question. She looked away from the sandy haired kunoichi.

"How are you feeling?

"Hn"

"_You probably look like shit" _laughed Madarou

"_Shut up!" _she threatened.

"Do you know where you are?" asked the blond.

Rayne, not wanting to cause pain to her sore throat, nodded her head "yes". She looked around the room, watching for danger, looking for a way out if she needed one. The window next to the bed looked good. However, reaching it in her condition was a different story and she hoped it wouldn't come to that. These people didn't know anything about her. There shouldn't be anything to worry about.

"Can I take a look at your injuries?" asked the blond reaching for Rayne's arm.

"No, don't" croaked Rayne, pushing away Temari's hand. She noticed her arms were completely covered with bandages.

"What? But I insist. You didn't look too good last night. I just want to make sure everything's okay."

"I'm fine" she growled.

"I don't care what you think. Gaara asked me to help you so I'm going to help you whether you want me to or not" she smiled. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way"

Rayne squirmed away from Temari but didn't get far. She was in too much pain to move.

"I wouldn't try moving, you have a few broken ribs and an injured wrist. You'll do more damage." Sighed the woman.

"_Honey…" _came Madarou's voice.

"_What?"_ snapped Rayne.

"_Let her help you. We are in no condition to do anything."_

"_I don't need help!"_

"_Yes we do!" _he snapped back. _"Quite being so stubborn, foolish girl."_

"_How do we know we can trust them? They are not like ordinary people. I can't just kill them if we are found out. He's the fucking Kazekage!"_

"_We don't need to trust them. Let them help so you can get better and we can get the hell out of here._

"So what's it going to be?" asked Temari, her hands on her hips.

Rayne sighed. She didn't like it but Madarou was right, like usual. She did need help

"Whatever"

"Good, I didn't want to cause more injuries" she smiled. "So what's your name?" She pulled Rayne up into a sitting position. It hurt like hell to move. Her whole body was sore. She cursed silently to herself, with such a colourful vocabulary that Madarou chuckled, while she shot threatening glances at the woman across from her. But, Rayne remained silent as the kunoichi grabbed her arm and began to unwind the bandages on her arm. She glanced over at her arm. It was mottled with various bruises and there were a few cuts and scrapes. Rayne flinched and Temari felt her arm jerk back slightly as she touched her wrist.

"I think it's broken."

Rayne just nodded. _No shit! _Temari continued to unwrap the bandages, being careful of her wrist, until they were completely off. Rayne glanced over again and saw Temari starring at the scared skin that wrapped around her wrist. Rayne reached over and covered her swollen wrist with her good hand, hiding the scars that were normally hidden behind her bracelets.

Temari looked away. "Don't worry, I won't ask. It's none of my business."

Rayne hesitated a moment then removed her hand. She kept her eyes fixed on the girl. Temari started on her other arm and was about halfway done when the door opened. Gaara came back in. He wore a pair of dark brown slacks but no shirt. He was rubbing water out of his hair with a dry towel.

"How is she?" he asked. He raised his head to see that the girl in question was sitting up and fully awake.

She glared intensely at the red head, but he remained calm and unfazed.

"I didn't think you would be awake so soon." He pulled up a chair a little away from the bed and leaned back in his chair.

"Neither did I" stated Temari "I assumed you would be out for another few days"

"Heal fast…" mumbled the girl. Temari slipped the last of the bandages off her arm. This arm looked as bad as the first, scars included.

"Well so far so good," grinned the eldest sand sibling. She continued on to the rest of her injuries, checking each one for any sign of trouble, and cleaning out the wounds with disinfectant. Gaara sat silently behind his sister, looking out the window. he glanced over every few minutes.

Rayne turned slightly red as Temari pulled down the blanket to check on her ribs and side. With nothing covering her torso but her chest wrappings and bandages, she felt too exposed as the woman removed the bandages. Luckily Temari was in the way of the Kazekage. She assumed the girl had already seen her scar and she didn't need anyone else to notice and start asking questions. She cursed in a low voice as Temari tightly bound her sides. She covered the rest of her injuries on her torso, back and legs. She was about to start wrapping her arms when Gaara grabbed the bandage from her hand.

"Go, you've done enough. I can finish. You should get ready to go."

"It's really no big deal. I'll finish up. I don't need to leave just yet."

"No, it's alright. I need to talk to her in private now that she's awake. I'll just finish this up."

"Alright" she agreed. She stood up and collected her stuff. "Thanks" she waved before walking into the hallway, closing the door behind her and locking Rayne in with Gaara.

"_Remain calm, kid" _

She could tell he was worried though. _"I am calm" _She was telling the truth- mostly. But Madarou cold still see that worry and panic hidden by her calm, confidence. Rayne knew what to do. She would just have to talk her way out of it, which would be easier to do if she wasn't so messed up right now.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Gaara sat down in Temari's empty chair. He leaned forward in the chair and rested his elbows on his knees.

"I don't have to tell you anything" she huffed. "You're the one who should explain yourself"

"Really? And what is it that I need to explain?

"Why did you bring me here?" Her tired, dark hazel eyes glared harshly.

"I believe it's my job," he answered calmly. He kept his face emotionless "to keep this village safe. I needed so see whether or not you were a threat. You seemed very suspicious."

Rayne laughed coldly. It sent shivers down Gaara's back. "That I am. So, if I am so suspicious why did you bring me here? Why did you help me? For all you know, I am an assassin paid to place a dagger through your heart." She moved to make herself more comfortable and get more distance between her and the young man. She grimaced in pain as she did so.

"_I told you not to move around"_ barked Madarou.

She ignored him and sat up straighter. She rested her back against the wall. This left her breathing a little harder.

"Or a demon? Attacking our citizens in the middle of the night?" Gaara added.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, genuinly puzzled.

"Theres a rumor going around that a demon, who just happens to fit your description, had been attacking people in the middle of the night."

"I still have no idea what you are talking about. I havent attacked anyone"

"Alright well, the only reason I helped was because last night I didn't see you as a threat to me. And I assumed you needed help. It wouldn't be right to leave you there or let those men kill you without finding out who you were."

"You are very mistaken Lord Kazekage. I already told you that I did not need your help. And you should be more careful. Haven't you ever heard the phrase, "looks can be deceiving"? I'm not one of your citizens in need of protection."

Gaara began to unravel the roll of bandages in his hands. "Let me see your arm"

He grabbed her forearm and pulled it closer. He began to wrap the bandage around the middle of her upper arm, working his way down. His hands were rough and dry but were surprisingly gentle. "So where are you from?"

"What?"

"You are obviously not from here. Where are you from then?"

Rayne had to be careful not to say anything that would give away too much. She wasn't going to lie. She was a crappy liar. "Konoha"

"Nice Place" replied Gaara. He had liked the city. He had been there before and had even made a few friends during his visits: like Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto. "So why are you here then?"

"I ran away." Not a lie, but not exactly true. 'Ran away' and 'escaped' were interchangeable in her mind. 'Ran away' just seemed less… drastic.

"Why?" Gaara worked his way to her wrist. He tried to be careful. She noticed him starring at her scarred wrists.

"Don't ask. It's a long story and none of your business" she said bluntly, before he could say anything. But he didn't need to ask. He already knew what scars like that were from. He had seen ones like them before: on Suna prisoners. Gaara remained silent as he covered her other arm and then put a splint on her broken wrist. He got up and sat down on the bed next to her. Rayne eyed him warily. He reached down to the side of the bed and searched through the medical supplies Temari had left. He sat up and moved closer. He leaned towards her and brushed her hair out of her face. Rayne turned slightly red.

"What are you-?"

Gaara pressed a wet cotton ball to the cut on her forehead. It burned slightly as he carefully rubbed the cut with the disinfectant. She looked down, away from the Kazekage, who she found way too close to her.

"You never told me why you ran away. Why did you come here."

"It was too cold there. It's a lot warmer here."

"You are telling me you left your family and friends behind and ran away because of the climate? I don't believe you."

Rayne sighed. "I can't tell you. But I will say this. I left because I wasn't wanted there. The people I knew all wanted me gone."

"Why?" Rayne was getting pissed now. This guy asked way too many questions.

"People don't like people like us. I wasn't wanted."

_"People like us?" _Gaara was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. Temari walked in.

"Hey, hope I'm not interrupting but I just wanted to say good bye."

"No, you weren't interrupting," Gaara replied.

"Oh did she fall back asleep again?" she asked. Gaara turned back around to see Rayne laying down, either asleep or pretending.

"I guess so."

"Yeah she needs to rest for a while. Then I'm sure she will be as good as new in no time. Alright well I'm leaving then. See ya later."

"Goodbye."

Gaara waited until Temari left. "We're not done yet. We will pick up this conversation later." He remained seated there. It was obvious he didn't plan to leave. Rayne was tired still and within a few minutes she was really asleep.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Well now that this is up I think I will go to bed seeing as I have a killer headache. Please, please, please let me know what you think so far. Any type of review is welcome and it means a lot to me. Also just wanted to give a little shout-out to the 8 (as of last time I checked) people who actually read my last chapter, even if I am friends with about half of you and forced you to read it :) And thanks to my sister of course for reading it and correcting most of my many mistakes.  
>Rayne<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

It's been a while since I last put up a chapter and I'm sorry. I was busy studying for finals (just kidding, I don't study hahaha) But the important thing is that chapter four is up. Now that school is out I will try to get some more chapters out, plus I am working on a few one-shots that I hope to have up soon. Please enjoy :)

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Ch.4

Rayne had slept for two straight days. Madarao had been right, she had needed rest. She sat up and looked around.. The room was empty. She carefully slid her legs out from under the warm blankets. Goose bumps formed on her legs as her feet touched the cool wood floor and she looked around the room. Clean clothes sat on the chair pulled up to the bed, a tray of food rested on top of that. She scrunched her toes, cracking them, and then reached for the food. She hadn't eaten in days and her stomached hurt. She lifted a rice ball and held it under her nose. She sniffed it and decided it was safe to eat. She finished it in only a few bites and washed it down with a few sips of water which was on the tray as well. After that she took a deep breath and focused on where she was. She needed to get up, no matter what that annoying demon of hers said. Ever since "that day" he always was adding his input on everything.

Having another voice in her head was just one of the changes that occurred in her since the two of them joined in her body. One of the first things she noticed was the heightened senses. She could see, hear, smell, and taste better than any normal human. She also found that she was exceptionally strong and quick giving her almost inhuman qualities. Then there were a few less noticeable qualities: she found she was lighter on her feet, more flexible, more graceful and her ears and teeth had become pointed. She really was an amazing shinobi now. She could have easily made ANBU with a little more work. She might not have had the crazy chakra that the tailed beasts gave their hosts but she had quite a bit and knew how to use it effectively. She was pretty logical (when she wanted to be) and a good fighter. Her team was the best for their class back in Konoha. Now they would be unstoppable. If only she could go back…

She shook her head, there was no going back. She knew that. She sighed and pushed herself out of bed, careful not to put pressure on her broken wrist. This made her lightheaded and she had to reach out to the table next to her to stabilize herself. She grabbed the clean clothing and took a few cautious steps towards the door which she assumed led to a bathroom. Using the wall for support she hobbled to the full bathroom that she assumed was the Kazekage's, and flicked on a light.

The room was dimly lit. A large shower sat in the corner, a toilet next to that. The other side of the room was filled with a granite counter that lined the wall. A deep sink was in the middle of it and a large mirror covered the wall. The counter was mostly bare except for some soap, a towel and a toothbrush. She grabbed the hand towel and wet it, wiping her face with it. She avoided looking into the mirror. She felt like shit and didn't need to be reminded that she probably looked as bad as she felt. The shower in the corner caught her attention. When was the last time she had taken a _real_ shower? She slid open the large glass door. She turned it on and let the water heat up before placing her hand under the stream of water. After thinking for a moment, Rayne decided she could definitely handle a quick shower and undressed. She unwound all the bandages that covered her body, letting them fall to the ground. She was pleased to see that everything was healing well, except for her wrist, which she was now sure it had been broken. The kunoichi stepped into the shower and let the hot water pour over her head. It wasn't long before she began to feel light headed. Madarao had already started to bark orders and I-told-you-so's at her. She went to step out but slipped and landed hard on her side, grunting in pain. The only thing she could do for the moment was lie there as the steaming water fell. After a few moments she painfully pulled herself into a sitting position and reached out the door for a towel. Once the towel was securely wrapped around her she stood up, using the slick wall as support and got out. She had only made halfway through the door before she began to feel lightheaded again. Rayne looked down to see bloody water dripping from her side. Her stab wound must have reopened when she fell. She reached out and grabbed the counter for support but was unable to hold herself up. She collapsed, unconscious on the bathroom floor, with the shower still running.

_Wind blew through the trees above, shaking them._

_Pure white snow drifted silently from the sky._

_She turns her head to the side,_

_The snow on the ground had been dyed a sticky red; blood._

_A loud, vicious snarl breaks the peaceful silence. _

_Something loud is crashing through the trees, toward her._

_She has to warn the others, to yell to them, to tell them to run._

_They were going to slow, they would never make it._

_She opens her mouth to yell but no sound comes out._

_There is an ear-piercing howl, He's almost here..._

_"Nooo!"_

Rayne bolted upright, her head smacking into something hard.

"Shit! Ahh , so sorry!"

Rayne covered her forehead with her hands and looked up to see a man with brown hair standing over her, holding his nose. "I'm so sorry" he said again. "I'll be right back" he mumbled before dashing off to the bathroom. Rayne sat there panting. That wasn't the first time she had that dream.

_"Hey, you alright Rayne?" _question Madarao

_"Yeah"_

_"How are you feeling?"_

Rayne took a deep breath to calm herself. _"I'm feeling a lot better now actually"_

_"Good, I'm glad to hear it" _he said cheerfully _"Hopefully we can get out of here soon."_

_"Agreed"_

The door to the bathroom opened up and the man came walking out holding a bloody tissue to his nose. He sat himself down in the chair next to the bed.

"Hey, I'm sorry about... hitting you." said Rayne as she moved to a more comfortable position.

"No big deal, I was sitting way to close anyways. I just came to check on you. I was a little worried after finding you passed out on the bathroom floor yesterday morning."

It took Rayne a moment to remember what he was talking about before she remembered passing out on the bathroom floor in nothing but a towel. She glanced down quickly and was relieved to see she was dressed….again. "Oh, yeah thanks... umm...?"

"Sorry, I'm Kankuro, Gaara's older brother"

Rayne nodded, "Nice to meet you". She shifted her position again and noticed the white cast now wrapped on her arm. _"Damn, this is going to make things difficult"_

"Well Rayne, I should be going. I'll be back home in a little bit and if you're feeling better, I'll take you to see Gaara. He told me to bring you to him as soon as possible so you could talk."

She was silent for a moment. "Alright"

Kankuro got up from his chair, throwing the bloody tissue into the trash bin. "Well I'll be back then" he said before leaving.

Rayne sat in bed until she heard Kankuro exit the building, then swiftly got out of bed. _"We need to leave, now!"_

_"You're right, we probably can't afford to stay much longer. Are you sure you are feeling better though?"_

_"I'm fine" _Rayne hurried to find her old clothes and change. Thankfully they had been cleaned and mended as well as possible. Her mask however, was nowhere to be seen. It had probably been too damaged to fix. She scanned the room for her necklace, she wouldn't leave that here. It would be sure evidence that she had been here. She searched for a few moments before finding it on the counter in the bathroom. _"What is it doing in here?" _There was no time to ask questions so she quickly slipped it back over her neck and headed to the window. Rayne quickly undid the latch on the window and jumped out onto the roof. The hot sun beat down and she threw her hand up to block the sun from her eyes. Although it was only morning, she could tell today was going to be hot. She wanted to make it out of here as soon as she could. There was one stop she had to make before she left the sand village. It was really a shame she had to leave though. This is the longest she has been able to remain hidden in one place. She became increasing angered with the shinobi that had caught her. _"If it hadn't been for the dumb bastards I could have stayed here longer without anyone knowing!" _She quickly hopped over to the roof across the street that she had spent so many nights on.

She was so glad no one had discovered her stash of supplies she had left up on the roof of the building. She quickly grabbed her pack that contained food and water, slipped her dagger into the waistband of her pants and finally grabbed the most important item. She picked up a long cloth-wrapped pack. She undid the ties at the end and pulled out two, what looked to be double-edged swords with exceptionally long handles. She tucked them into her belt and shouldered her pack. She took a quick look around so see if she was being followed then jumped to the next roof in line.

With her weapons in hand, Rayne made her way towards the village gate. She traveled quickly and quietly, sticking to back streets or roof tops in case someone was looking for her. She listened carefully as she ran, trying to hear if anyone was following her. It had taken a while but eventually, as she neared a small gate leaving the village, she could finally sense people following her. She speed up trying to get as much distance between them and her as possible. They were without a doubt following her and that feeling of panic was slowly starting to rise again. She had to get away. Her hopes of escape were almost crushed as she got closer to the gate. She could see them yards away, Shinobi gaurding the gate. She wasn't getting out that way. Not without a fight that is. She turned to head in another direction but the shinobi following her were catching up. She wasn't going to be able to outrun them for long. They knew the city too well. She now had two choices; stay and fight (not a good idea) or try to run (not much better of an idea). Either way, she felt that she would be caught. At the time running just seemed like the best options so she took off again. Unfortuanatly this didn't last long because she soon found herself running through a back alley way with shinobi only feet behind her. She cursed to herself as she soon discovered that the path she had chosen was a dead end. She gathered chakra in her feet and prepared to run up the tall building.

"Rayne, give it up. Thers no use in running anymore. If you don't stop, I will make you." called a voice.

Rayne skidded to a stop. That was the Kazekage's voice. She could sense his strong chakra ahead of her. She looked up to see him standing atop the building in front of her. She was now cornered. Four shinobi behind her and the biggest pain in the ass, blocking her path in front. She cursed to herself. She was really screwed this time.

"Damn, you caught me" she said raising her hands nonchalantly.

"Why did you run?"

"I apologize Lord Kazekage, but I have no intentions of explaining myself to you," she pulled her two swords out and tightened her grip on them, "nor do I plan to be taken in without a fight." She put the grips of her odd swords against each other and bound them together with chakra forming a long sword staff as tall as she was. The two blades made up the ends of it; the center was made of solid steel. She twirled the staff in her good hand, glad to feel the familiar comfort of its grip. She had gone through a lot of trouble of getting this back before leaving her village, but there wasn't any other option. This weapon had so many memories in it. Plus, this strange staff has always been her weapon of choice, even back in the academy. She had grown up using it. The sword-staff was great for slashing and stabbing and could easily be used to take on multiple opponents. It took great speed and agility to wield this weapon, both of which she had, especially after bonding with her demon.

_"Rayne! What are you doing? You can't fight the Kazekage! You are only going to end up getting in more trouble than you already are in!"_

_"Does it look like I have a choice? I'm not going to be sent back! Now are you with me or not?"_

Madarao paused for a moment then, with a sigh of annoyance, said _"Whatever, if I'm not with you then who will be huh? Someone needs to watch out for your crazy ass"_

Rayne took this as her cue to go and spun around. She quickly jumped towards the shinobi behind her. She caught the first one off guard. He wouldn't expect someone who looked the way Rayne did to have to strenght to fight. She lept at him, knocking him to the ground and smashing the shaft of her staff into his head, stunning him. The others were now prepared for her. Kunai headed in her direction. She twisted her staff in her good hand knocking them away. The shinobi soon had her surronded on all sides, all pulling out swords. Lucky for Rayne, this type of situation was what her weapon was made for. With swords on both ends she was able to take on multiple opponents at once. With her speed, agility and strenght, although half of what they normally were, she could easily take them. They came at her seconds later. She swund her staff. knocking two of them backwards. She quickly turned around again and leaned backwards, doddging a blade that swung over her head. She fliped backwards, catching his sword between her feet and sent it flying. It hit the wall and fell to the ground with a loud clatter. Rayne swept her staff towards her attacker. The man screamed as her blade sliced deep gashes in his thighs. She quickly stood up and spun, sending a strong kick to his face. He fell to the dirt, blood running down his broken nose. Another Shibobi ran at Rayne with her sword raised. She quickly turned and blocked with her staff. Rayne sent a fast kick to her stomache that was too fast to block, sending her back into the wall. Then she ran and scooped up her the woman's dropped sword and threw it at her. It went through the scarf she was wearing, clipping her shoulder and then burried itself in the wall, pinning the woman to the wall.

Gaara sat on the roof watching the fight. As Rayne started fighting he could sense her previously hidden chakra. This girl was strong, really strong. There was something oddly familure about the feel of chakra but he couldnt place it. He continued to watch her fight, amazed by the speed and strenght this frail looking woman possessed. She had been right, she did know how to fight. If she was this good why hadn't she been able to protect herself earlier? Was it her sickness? And where had she learned to fight? She obviously had shinobi training. Could she be a missing nin from the leaf? Maybe that was why she had ran. So many questions filled his head. That had to explain his anxiety, why he wanted to get her back so badly. His thoughts returned to the fight when he heard his female shinobi scream out. He went back to watching and thinking to himself. There was definitely something different about this girl.

Rayne stood there panting. Her head was pounding again and ribs ached. Her panic now gone, replaced by the slowly fading adrenaline rush she had during the fight. One guy left, or two if you considered the Kazekage. She tried to not think about that. If she had to fight him she was screwed anyways. There was no way she could win against him. In her weakened state she wouldn't even last five minutes. _Now is not the time to think about that. Just have to beat this guy and then run, run as fast as I fucking can. I don't have enough energy to change, not without loosing control. If that happens I'm twice as screwed. _She knew Gaara was standing on the roof still watching her every move. Her main concern right now was the man standing in front of her, the last of the Kazekage's shinobi. The others had gone down easily, knowing they couldn't win, but this guy just wouldn't step down no many how many times she sent him down. He was bleeding fron a few cuts but other than that he looked fine. _What a pain! _She didn't want to kill him. Its not that she was against killing. She would do whatever it took to keep herself alive but he was just a guy. It was just his bad luck that he was getting paid to do this job. He ran at her again and she leaned back dodging his attack. There was a sharp pain as the stitches in her side were torn out yet again. She lost her balance and fell back. Luckily she was able to catch herself and quickly hoped back up. She swung at him again hitting him accross the arm with the edge of a sword. Now enraged, he ran at her again but he was too slow. Rayne ran up the wall next to her and pushed off flipping backwards and landing behind him. She sent a swift hit from the side of her hand to the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious.

She wasted no time taking off running again. Luckily she had made sure not to kill any of them. That would just get her into more trouble. A wall of sand errupted in front of her blocking her way out. She cursed and tried to turn around but Gaara was now behind her.

"Did you really think you could get away Rayne?"

The kunoichi made no attempt to respond.

"What is going on here? Who are you? Where are you from? I demand to know what you think your doing in my village."

"What I told you earlier was true. I ran away from the leaf village and was looking for somewhere to stay for a while."

"You were a shinobi there?"

She sighed with annoyance "Yeah, for a little. Never even made it to Chunin"

"With fighting skills like that? I find that hard to believe."

"I left right before the exams"

"So you still expect me to believe that you just left at the begining of your ninja career to become a missing-nin and travel around?"

She didn't reply again but stared at him.

"Well?"

"I never said I left for no reason, I just didn't specify why I left because its none of your damn business" she said quietly.

"Then why did you leave?" he asked "And why were you in jail?"

Her head snapped up with a slight look of shock. "What are you talking about?" she glarred angrily.

"Answer the question."

Rayne continued to glare at the Kazekage. He already knew too much information. Pretty soon he was going to start connecting the dots, if he hadn't already figured her out that is, and she would be brought back to that cursed village to be locked up again. She had to find a way out of this. But how?

"Rayne?" The Kazekage said impatiently. His grey-green eyes always watching her.

"Yeah I was in prison, but look, you have to believe me when I say I didn't do anything wrong."

"So the people of Konoha had you locked up for no reason?"

Rayne sighed and stood up straght facing the Kazekage head on. She looked him in the eyes and said "I told you, people don't like people like us. They are afraid of things that are different and decide they are dangerous. They do what they think will keep them safe, even if it useless or unfair. They take the things they are afraid of and lock them up or shun them, make them feel unwanted hoping they will go away. Or they will even try to kill that thing that scares them." She now was speaking very clearly and strong again. "You should be able to relate to that quite well, right Sabaku No Garra? Im sure you could understand what I'm talking about. Were not all that different you and I"

Then it clicked. Gaaras eyes widened in shock for only a brief second. It now made sense. The inhuman abilities, the strong and slightly familiar chakra. She was not entirely human. She wasn't a jinchuriki, they 9 tailed beasts were all accounted for. Perhaps she was a biju? No, the chakra was too strong for that.

"What are you?" he asked sounding concerned.

"You already know what I am Sabaku no Gaara" she replied coldly. "But I'm not going to wait around for you to turn me in. I've done nothing wrong and will not be returned to my village!"

"I can't let you go without knowing whats really going on here"

"I'm afraid I have no desire to tell you" The Kunoichi took off running up the wall, seperating her swords and sticking them back into her belt. Gaara sighed with annoyance. Why did she have to make things so difficult? He sent sand after her but she was quicker than he expected. She dodged his sand jumping back and forth on the wall. Gaara knew he should catch her now. The girl , he observed earlier, was great at free running and he didn't want to lose her in the crowds of people. Lucky for him, she was tired. His sand caught hold of her leg right as she went to vault over the top of the building. She cursed as she fell over the back of the wall. She grabed the ledge with her good hand and held on tight.

A small growl escaped Rayne's throat as she caught herself on the ledge of the building. She felt the sand shifting unnaturally , sliding and tightening around her ankle, causing her to shudder. The sharp edges of the ledge dug into her palm and fingers leaving pricks of blood. She yelled in frustration as she tried to pull herself back up. The sand around her ankle was pulling her down to hard. Sand crept its way down her foot and around her shoes, pulling harder now. She didn't have the strenght to keep this up. "God damn it! Let me go or I swear I will end your life!"

Gaara smirked at her threat. There was no way she was getting away and they both knew it. "Give up Rayne. There is no way to win this. Come down and we will talk and figure this out."

"Yeah from between bars! I don't think so. Fuck you!" She pulled up harder as Madarao's chakra began to flow through her. She felt extra strength flow through her and felt herself lift a little before more sand began to climb its way up to her knee both over and under her pant leg. She winced as the sand started to constrict, tightening painfully around her calf.

"Rayne I'm giving you one more chance before I pull you off that wall" he said coldly.

The kunoichi only pulled harder. There was no way she could let herself be caught now. _No, no, no, no!" _She felt herself slipping as sand continued to wrap higher around her leg, now reaching mid-thigh. It continued to tighten and pull. At last her hand slipped and she started to fall. Skin was scrapped off her forearm and hands as she slid down the rough wall, trying to grab onto anything she could while she sent chakra through her hands to slow her fall but it was no use. She fell away from the wall and saw the ground rush up to meet her. She threw her arms up to shield her head and the last thing she saw before blacking out was a swirl of sand.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Well there you go. If any of you are Eragon fans you may have noticed Rayne's weapon being very much like the Hûthvír used by Angela and the dwarves. My writer's self esteem is really hurting now so please leave a quick comment by clicking the comment link. Thanks for reading. :)  
>~Reiko<p> 


	6. Chapter 5

Alright well here is the (not-so) long awaited fifth chapter of my story. I have to warn any Kankuro fans out there that as I write this story I seem to be making him just a tad bit out of character. It doesn't seem to bad but I just wanted to warn you. Alright well go on and read the story. *Insert usual fanfiction disclaimer*

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

A door swung inwards, shedding light from the hallway into the dimly lit home office. Kankuro walked in and sat down in a chair across from his youger brother's desk. It was late and he was ready to go to bed. It had been a long day.

"How is she?" asked the young red head.

"Out cold but mostly alright. God, today was a long day." he sighed. He had just gotten back from checking up on their "house guest". Besides a few new injuries from her little "adventure" today she really was okay. "So what are we going to do with her Gaara?"

The Kazekage sat for a little bit thinking then spoke. "I'm not really sure. But..."

"But what?"

Gaara looked up at his brother. "I do have one idea..." he said quietly

Kankuro had the sudden feeling he wasn't going to like this. "Go on"

Gaara placed his elbows on the desk and folded his hands under his chin. "As you know, lately our village has been running a little short on shinobi and we could use all the help we can get. Recently, a genin team lost both the third member of their team and their sensei"

"Damn it, I can see where you are going with this and I already don't like it."

"She can't leave until we find out whats going on with her and, as seen from todays fiasco, she can't be trusted to stay put here. I need someone to watch her but I don't have any one skilled enough that I can just put out of their shinobi service. Plus it would help out the village. Killing two birds with one stone, ne?"

Kankuro sighed. "I don't get you. I really don't get whats behind your madness of insisting on keeping her here. Why not just send her to jail like any other intruder or send her back to where she came from like any other missing-nin? What's so special about this girl? "

Gaara was again silent for a moment. "I don't know. I honestly don't know that answer myself. There's just something about her. I think she is a demon host as well. I just want to figure this out alright? Plus I wouldn't feel right about locking her up". _Not with that look in her eyes at the mention of going back. Her eyes... they are so familure. Ones filled with hate and sadness just like... Uchiha's? My own? _

"A demon host? You have got to be kidding me. This is crazy but alright" sighed the oldest of the brothers "Tell me what your plan is"

"You'll help?"

"What the fuck? Why not? That's what brothers are for right?" _What is going on in your head Gaara?_

"Alright, I was thinking..." started Gaara as he told Kankuro of his plan.

Light was shinning through the window when Rayne woke up the next morning. She quickly looked around, afraid of where she might be. She sighed anngrily when she realized that she was back in this _fucking_ bed in this _fucking _ room in this _fucking _house. At least she wasn't back in Konoha.

_ "At least not yet" _said Madarou

_ "Yeah, jeeze just do me a favor and kill me now. It would make things a lot easier" _ she chuckled.

_ "Well I'm glad you find this funny, were stuck back in the same situation and we could be sent back at any moment. That Kazekage boy knows too much Rayne. You told him to much. What were you thinking?"_ he scolded

Her smile turned to a frown._"I don't know, I guess I assumed we were skrewed so it didn't matter anymore. I'm getting tired of this Madarou. I'm tired of running and hidding all the time. I'm just so tired of all this" _ she sighed

_ "I know honey. Just hang in there. Soon we will have our revenge and then we can..." _ he paused not sure of what to say next

_ "And then what? They will still be after us. They always will."_

_ "We will think of something. We will do something. We'll run away to some remote corner of the world and start a new life there."_

_ "Yeah I guess so" _ and with that she stretched and let out a yawn. She found it hard to believe that this situation could ever get better. She looked around again, noticing that all her bandages had been replaced. The thick white cast was still on her forearm. She scratched at it without even realizing it. Then there was a knock on the door. Rayne sat back up, alert, ready for anything, and anyone for that matter, that came through the door. It was only Gaara, not that it made it any better.

"Rayne" he said, more as a gretting.

"Kazekage-sama" she stated.

"You have caused quite a few problems for me Rayne"

_ Good! That's what you get for interfearing!_ she only looked at him.

"But I think that I have found a solution that will benefit the both of us" he continued

_ Oh this should be good..._

"As of lately, our village has been running low on shinobi. Just last week we had a genin squad loose its sensei and one of its students."

"And how does this pertain to me?" She asked trying to remain calm. She looked out the window trying to avoid his gaze.

"Alright Rayne, here's the deal. I know you have shinobi training so I will be assigning you to a genin team with my brother Kankuro as your team's new sensei. You will help out in the village while remaining under carefull watch so you don't try any more stunts like yesterday. You will be staying here when you are not working with your team and you will behave yourself"

"No, I refuse" she said as she glared out the window. "I'm not going to work for you. Plus I am too old and too good of a fighter to be put on a team with a bunch of brats that I'm older than by at least four years. I could easily make jounin now and you know it."

"You havent earned that privilage, and I can't trust you. The way I see it, you don't have a say in this matter."

"And what if i still refuse? You can't force me to work on this team"

"You refuse, or you start causing trouble and I will send you back to the hidden leaf." Her gaze flashed up to him. She was angry now, but other than that he saw fear in her eyes.

"You can't do that!"

"I can and I will. This is my village Rayne and you are going to follow my rules. Now what will it be? My genin team or a cold cell back in the leaf village."

She was silent for a while then "I hate you. I really hate you"

He couldn't tell if she meant it or not but it didn't matter. He was really doing what was best for her. He didn't want to send her back. He may not have known what had gone on while she was there but he certainly knew what it was like to be hated and feared by your village. This really was the best option. And this way he could find out morea about her. "Well?"

She sighed deeply and said "Fine, I'll join you stupid litttle team." This was not working out the way she wanted. When did it ever? Ever since her last mission from the leaf village it had all been down hill.

Gaara was glad, he wouldn't admit it but he was, very. "Well then I would get some rest if I were you. I will be back in the morning to take you to meet your new team."

"Fantastic" she mummbled. Her arms were now crossed over her chest and she turned away from him. She didn't even look back at him as he got up and left, closing the door behind him leaving her to ponder her thoughts while she waited for a sleep that never came. She closed her eyes but remained fully aware for the rest of the night.

When she "woke up" the next morning Kankuro was already gone. He walked down the road to where he was going to be meeting his now students. He was already dreading this. He hated kids so much, they were all annoying little brats. How could Gaara do this to him? This was wrong on so many levels...

He arrived at the meeting 5 minutes late. Two younge boys stood outside of a restaraunt, one standing shyly behind the other. The one in front stood with his arms across his chest. His diry blond hair was short and spiked. His dark blue eyes were glarring. He wore a dark brown shirt over a pair of light tan cargo pants. He stepped up first.

"I take it you are our new sensei?" he asked, his voice sounding cocky and very arrogent.

"Ugh yeah. The name's Kankuro" he said shoving his hands in the pockets of his black pants.

"I'm Akio" he replied. "And this is Hitoshi" he said motioning to the boy behind him. His dark hair was worn in a ponytail behind him, his shaggy bangs hiding his brown eyes. He wore a blue hoodie with a brown stripe running down the right side along with a pair of baggy white shorts.

Kankuro gave a quick wave. "Hey"

An akward silence soon developed. Kankuro glanced at each of the boys. "Soo..." sighed Kankuro

"I don't like you..." Akio said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" growled Kankuro. He hated kids. HATED them.

"You heard me, I don't like you. And let me tell you now, you will never replace our sensei and we wont take orders from you. Right Hitoshi?" he spat. The shy boy just nodded his head.

Kankuro's head throbbed with annoyance. "You better watch yourself kid"

"When is the other guy from our team showing up? He should be here by now." he asked, completely ignoring the fuming Kankuro and changing the subject.

This Aiko kid was really getting on his nerves now. He reminded him of another loud-mouth, annoying blond he met in the leaf village. He had no respect, talking to him like that. He better watch his mouth or this kid was going to get his ass kicked. He had no patience to put up with this shit. "_She_" he said with annoyance trying to keep his temper down "will be here in a little bit. The Kazekage will be bringing her here himself so show some respect.

"Wait a minute!" cried the blond. "Our new team mate is a _girl_?"

"Yeah, what of it?" shrugged Kankuro.

"This is great, just great. I didn't think this situation could get any worse. First we lose two members of our team then we get stuck with a loser like you as our sensei and to top it all off our new team mate is a girl! Girls are the worst! They are spoiled and are always getting in the way. They suck at fighting and are always in need of protecting. We don't need a no good, ugly ass bitch on our team!"

"Kid do you have any idea who your talking to?" He picked the boy up by his shirt getting a suprised yelp from him. "I am the brother of the Kazekage, the most powerfull Shinobi in this whole damn village! Now you better give me some respect or I swear I will-"

He was cut off when someone cleared his throat from the side. The two young genins and Kankuro turned to see the Kazekage standing there with a scowl on his face and a very pissed off Rayne standing next to him

"Shit" cursed Kankuro.

Earlier that morning.

A gentle knock woke Rayne from a light sleep. The door slid open and the Kazekage stepped in. Rayne sat up, fully awake immediatly.

"It's almost time to go." He said dropping of a bundle of clothes, which she rocognised as her own, at the foot of the bed. "Time to get ready. The bathroom is in there if you want to wash up. I'll be waiting outside so be quick" he turned and left without another word.

Rayne grudgily got out of bed. With a low moan she walked to the bathroom after grabbing her clothes. Making use of the bathroom she quickly undressed and hopped in the shower. She washed up quickly and was out in a few minutes. On the counter sat a tray with a few necessary things like bandages, hairbrush and a toothbrush and her other jewelery. She stopped to inspect her injuries. Most of her original wounds were gone. The cut on her side was still a little tender after being fixed again but would be fine in a few days. She flexed her once broken fingers to find them fully healed as well. On the other hand she had few new injuries from her escape attempt. She looked at her arm that wasn't in a cast to see that there was a large area of skin that had been scrapped of when she slid down the wall. Her palm was also still healing after it had been cut open on the top of the roof. A new layer of bruises also covered her arms from her fall and her fight. The skin on her legs was also a little red from where the sand had scrapped away at it. It was no big deal though. She really did heal fast. She might not have the recovery skill of that Uzumaki boy but hers were still quite better then the average person. She quickly wrapped bandages around her chest and injuries then pulled on her white tee-shirt and black pants.

She slipped her prison tag over her neck followed by a small sliver ring on a chain. She held the ring in her hand for a while sliding her finger over the engraving on the inside. There were three names neatly printed on the inside of the band.

_Rayne_

_Kaede_

_Himiko_

She smiled to herself and then placed her multiple rings back on her fingers follwed by her leather bracelets that hid her horribl` y scarred wrists. After that she brushed her red-brown hair out and then brushed her teeth. She looked herself over in the large mirror and frowned. She looked pretty shitty. Her skin was pale and discolored in many places from bruising and healing wounds. She had lost weigh, too much weight. She frowned and pulled at the bulky cast still on her forearm. After deciding there was nothing more she could do she slipped on her shoes and left the bathroom to go meet the Kazekage in the hallway.

They walked out of the house in silence. Gaaras gaze following her closely watching for any indication that she was going to try something. He had been smart enough not to give her her weapons back just yet but she made it pretty obvious that she didn't need them to get two walked outside and down the street, still neither speaking at all. Walking in silence to meet her new team brought her back to her days at the academy.

_ A younge Rayne walked through the streets of Konoha. Rayne, and only Rayne occupying her body. She was back in a time before her life was ruined. Her older brother walked along beside her. His long brown hair in its pony tail moved in the breeze. He was dressed in the normal jounin vest and uniform. His face as plain, stoick and emotionless as ever. His eyes were cold and cinical. He pushed his thin glasses further up his face as he went on lecturing her about the importance of training hard, following the rulesK and bringing honor to her family. Rayne sulked behind him not even listening. She was still upset at her father. It was suppose to be him that was walking her to her first day at her accademy class. But of corse he couldn't take her, even though he had promised. No, he was busy again. He was always too busy for her and now she was stuck with her older brother. She didn't get along with him. He was mean and she didn't understand what was wrong with him. He sucked the fun out of everything. Before she had known it she had reached the school. Her brother gave her a quick farewell, not even caring enough to walk her in, and then headed off to his mission. She stood at the entrance for a few moments watching all the other children get dropped off by there parents. She saw a young boy with blond hair and blue eyes walking in by himself alone. He was fine, so why wouldn't she be fine as well? She took a deep breath then walked in with her head held high ready to make her mother and father proud. _

She walked in to meet her classmates, two of which would later become her friends and team mates. They had not gotten along well at all in the start, you could even say that they had hated each other, but after a horrible failed first mission they had become close friends and since then they had been unstoppable. They had been amazing and would have made it all the way through the chunin exams had it not been for that mission before it. It was suppose to be a simple mission. How could have it had gone so wrong? Except she did know what went wrong, at least she did now. It had all been because of him that they were attacked. It was his fault that she now had a demon inside of her head and it was all his fault that she ended up in prison. That no good-

"Hold on"

Rayne looked up to see Gaara stopped in front of her."What?" She asked. She realized that they were already at the meeting point. She had gotten lost in her memories... again.

"Just hold on a second"

She stopped to listen for a second. She heard voices coming around the corner of the building.

"Wait a minute! Our new team mate is a girl?" came a younge man's voice.

"Yeah, what of it?" Rayne recognized this voice as Kankuro's. _Great_ she thought to herself_ sounds like this new team of mine will be just great..._

"This is great, just great. I didn't think this situation could get any worse. First we lose two members of our team then we get stuck with a loser like you as our sensei and to top it all off our new team mate is a girl! Girls are the worst! They are spoiled and are always getting in the way. They suck at fighting and are always in need of protecting. We don't need a no good, ugly ass bitch on our team!" came the other voice again. Rayne turned slightly red and clenched her fist as she realized they were talking about her.

"Who the hell?" she asked. She was going to stranggle that brat!

"Just wait a moment, I want to see how Kankuro handles this." said the Kazekage quietly. So they watched. Rayne was fuming now. She was going to kick that little punk's ass.

There was a small suprised yelp as ankuro quickly reached out to pick the kid up by the front of his shirt. He spoke quietly but with Rayne's hearing, she easily picked up what he said. "Kid do you have any idea who your talking to? I am the brother of the Kazekage, the most powerfull Shinobi in this whole damn village! Now you better give me some respect or I swear I will-"

Gaara cleared his throat causing the three boys to look up.

"Shit" swore Kankuro

"Kankuro... whats going on?"

He quickly dropped the kid, who stumbled backwards a few steps. "Sorry Gaara it wont happen again..." The young boys looked waringly at the Kazekage.

"Make sure it doesn't. Rayne, meet your new team. I have to get going so I will see you two later" he said glancing at Kankuro and Rayne. He looked like he was about to say something else but instead turned and left leaving Rayne standing there to glare at her team.

"Rayne this is Akio and this one is Hitoshi." said Kankuro. She nodded and watched them carefully, unfazed by the one named Akio's glares.

She waited till she was sure the Kazekage was out of earshot before speaking. "So I'm a no-good, ugly ass bitch?" she asked with a chiling chuckle.

Hitoshi shifted unconfortable. Akio shifted his weight and crossed his arms. "You look like shit. What happened to you?" he asked noticing the bruises and cuts on her arm and her cast.

"Got into a fight... or two." she said as she glanced at Kankuro. He smirked a little.

"Well that's just great, well you better learn to handle yourself in a fight. I don't want to be saving your ass." He looked her straight in the eye. This brat pissed her off and reminded her of another blond haired blue eyed boy that she hated.

"I should be saying that to you. You should see the _guys _I fought yesterday. They look worse than me." Which wasn't exactly true but she still had beaten them and there had been more of them than her. Plus she wasn't even at full strength. She considered that to be pretty good.

"I highly doubt that, when I first saw you I thought you were a walking corpse. You look like your ready to keel over at any second." he eyed her for a moment like he was waiting for her to do just that.

"Oh yeah? So you don't think I can handle myself in a fight? Why don't we see right now how well I can handle myself?"

"That wouldn't even be a fair fight. It would feel right for an experienced fighter as myself to take on a frail woman like you."

Kankuro watched as the two bickered back in forth while Hitoshi tried to sink into the wall. "Woman? Listen, I don't think you cold even scratch me kid" she laughed.

"Don't call me kid! You're not that much older than me." he shouted as he pointed a finger at her.

"Four years but who's counting" she grinned slyly. "And if you are such an amazing fighter, why did you lose two members of your team?..Hmm? Why couldn't you save them?"

"Rayne" said Kankuro warningly.

Pure anger flashed across Akio's face. "What did you say?" he growled. She had crossed the line with that one.

"Guys knock it off" interupted Kankuro.

"You heard me." she grinnned. She was egging him on now, itching for a fight. She was going to teach him a lesson for the way he insulted her.

"Shut the hell up!" he said lunging at her. She quickly side-step, avoiding his fist. He swung out in anger again. This time she grabbed his fist with inhuman speed and beant it down forcing him to his knees with a cry of pain. She sent a knee to his stomache, faster than he could even hope to dodge, sending him sprawlng backwards. A small gasp came from a group of civilians as they hurried by to avoid the fight. Kankuro watched, a little shocked at the fighting abilites she had. Gaara had said she was good but he didn't understand how good. Rayne walked over to where Akio layed panting on the ground trying to catch his breath after having the wind knocked out of him. His wrist curled protectivly near his chest. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him to eye level.

"Whose the better fighter?" she laughed wickidly. "Don't mess with me punk, I'll crush you" She raised her fist to hit him again. There was a tug on her hand as she went to punch him, preventing her hand from moving. She looked back to see chakra threads attached to her fist.

"Thats enough you two" called Kankuro now slightly angry. The chakra threads that bound Raynes fist connecteed to the puttetears fingers. "Let's call it a day befor someone gets hurt." He released Rayne's hand and she released Akio, shoving him back. She had proven her point. He now knew not to mess with her. Hitoshi seemed to understand as he watched her with fear in his eyes.

"Don't talk about things you don't know anything about" mumbled Akio as he whiped a tear from his eye. "Have you ever lost a team member and a friend?"

Rayne sighed and turned away from him with a frown. Yeah she has, she had lost her whole team. They might not be dead but there was a good chance they were never going to see each other again. She realized she had gone too far but her pride prevented her from apologizing. She stared at the ground while Kankuro tried to help Akio, who just shrugged him off.

"Alright listen guys. I sugest we all get home and take it easy. Akio I want you to get that wrist checked on and healed. I want you all rested because we have our first mission as a team the day after tomorrow. Lets try to make it a little more productive than today. We will be meeting at the construction site in the old part of the city at sunrise where we will recieve further instuctions." He looked at each of them making sure they understood. "Alright then, we'll be going then. Come on Rayne"

Kankuro Gaara and Rayne all sat at the table back at the house. Rayne sat quietly picking at her food while Gaara and Kankuro talked about work. She decided she couldn't eat anymore and stood up. "If you don't mind me, I'll just excuse myself" She left her plate sitting on the table but slipped her knife into the pocket on her pantleg. Gaara simply nodded and returned to his conversation.

With nowhere really to go she wandered down the hall way before slumping against the wall with a sigh. She really didn't have anywhere to go. Not even a room to be alone in. This wasn't her house and she felt unwanted here, like she wasn't suppose to be here. She slid down to the floor and leaned her head against the wall. She sat for a moment before drawing the knife from her pocket. She observed the edge of the blade, sliding its jagged edges along her thumb. It wasn't very shart but it would do. She placed it on her arm and began to saw at the cast, determined to get the damn thing off. It took her a while but she finally managed to remove it. She flexed her hand and bent her wrist. It seemed to have healed completely now. She leaned her head against the wall again.

_ Madarou?_

_ Yeah honey?_

_ ...nothing, just making sure you were still there... _she sighed

_ Why wouldn't I be? _ he asked puzzled

_ I don't know. Just havent heard from you in a while thats all._

_ Don't worry I don't plan on going anywhere, even if I wanted to _he chuckled, his laugh sounding more like a raspy bark.

_ Good point. Where else would you find such a crazy adventure if not with me, ne?_

_ Only you darling._

_ Yeah _Rayne yawned.

_ You seem tired, why don't you go to bed? You have a long day tomorrow._

_ I would but I have no Idea where I am suppose to stay. _ She laughed in her head _I have never felt so out of place in my life. I feel like I am in a strangers house. I don't want to touch anything or go anywhere because I feel as though I am not allowed. I have no idea what to do with myself._

_ I understand. We could go ask them. _he suggested

_ That's quite alright I think I will just sit here instead. Less work..._

_ I swear you are the laziest ninja I know._

_ How many other ninjas do you know? _smirked Rayne

_ Not many... _he laughed again in his raspy bark.

Rayne smiled and then a few moments later yawned again. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She rested her head on the tops of her knees and was soon driffting to sleep in the middle of the hallway.

_ Goodnight honey..._

_~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~_

Well? What did you think? Let me know, please :) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed already, you know who you are. I will try to get another update up by next Sunday. Also you may have noticed I changed the rating on here. After receiving a suggestion, I lowered it so lets hope it gets more reviewers.  
>Reiko<p> 


	7. Chapter 6

I know I said that I would try to get updates up sooner but I have been a little busy with getting ready for vacation and job hunting. Any Shikamaru fans might be happy with this next chapter. Well, enjoy.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Rayne turned over on her side and nuzzled her face into a soft pillow. She squeezed her arms around another pillow and pulled her knees up, bringing the pillows closer to her chest. She took a calm deep breath. Her pillow smelled good, almost like... Gaara? She opened her eyes to find herself back in his room. She was laying in his bed again with his blankets pulled up to her face. He was no where to be seen. The dark curtains in the room kept most of the light out and she was comfortable, feeling more rested than she had in a while. She sat up and stretched before climbing out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and smoothed out her hair as she walked to the door.

As she left the room she noticed voices coming from the kitchen. It sounded like the Temari was back, and she had brought a friend, a friend who sounded frightenly familure. She slowed down and listened. It deffenitally sounded like him, but what would he be doing here? She leaned against the wall and inched towards the kitchen before peering around the corner to look in. Kankuro and Temari sat at the table laughing with a man who had his back to Rayne. She didn't need to see his face though. She knew who he was. She recognized his uniform, which was similar to that of a Konohas standard uniform. She could tell it was him by the spiky, jet black hair that he wore in a ponytail. It was Shikamaru. Her breath seemed to stop for a moment. _He's here to take me back. They have found me and he's going to bring me back again._ Her heart started to race. Shikamaru was the one responsible for recapturing her a few times. He wasn't a bad guy, no far from it. He had occasionally come to visit her in prison when he needed to avoid work. He had been the only one to ever come see her. He probably was one of the only ones allowed in to see her but still, he came even though he didn't have to. She was usually happy to see him but not this time.

She wanted to back away, to run, but was unable to move. _Shit! He's got me with a shadow already? When? How? _Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. He stood up and walked over to the counter, making her realize it was her own fear and not his shadow technique that was holding her in place. He had only gotten up to get something to drink. _Maybe he doesn't know I'm here._ She slowly backed away, edging silently down the hall. Her hand connected with a cold doorknob. She quickly opened the door and slid in closing the door behind her, shutting herself in the dark.

She walked backwards a few steps, her hands brushing against fabric. She had just closed herself in the closet. Rayne backed against the wall and sat down on the floor. Her skin had broken out in a cold sweat. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. _What the fuck am I doing? I'm hiding in a closet! _She smacked herself in the forehead. She was being pathetic, truly pathetic. She was a great shinobi and demon host, and here she was hiding like a small child. She needed to get away from Shikamaru but this wasn't how she should be doing it. If anything, this was one of the worse things she could have done seeing as she was now stuck. She sighed and let her head lean back and hit the wall. She really was ridiculous. She almost laughed to herself. _Alright I need to calm down and think of a logical way to get out of this. I just need to-_

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Rayne's heart seemed to jump up into her throat. She crouched into a fighting stance, ready to attack as soon as the door opened. If she was going back it wouldn't be without an excellent fight. She had begun to summon some of Madarao's chakra when...

"Rayne? What are you doing in there?" came Gaara's deep voice.

_ Shit!_ "I-Its none of your concern. Mind your own business, I'm busy"

He sighed with annoyance. "Busy? What could you possible been doing in a closet?" She didn't answer him so he called her name again. "Rayne?" Still no answer. "Rayne? What on earth are you doing?" Suddenly the door flew open and before he could even react, her hand shot out and pulled him in with the door quickly pulling it closed behind him. His sand did nothing to stop her. "What are-"

A cold hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes had yet to adjust to the dark so he couldn't see but he could feel her leaning on him. "Will you shut up! Quit calling my name like that. He'll-" she stopped talking. She didn't want to say too much. He reached up and removed her hand from over his mouth. He could feel her shaking. She was scarred.

"What is going on here?" he whispered.

She took a shaky breath. "It's nothing that concerns you"

"Nothing that concerns me? You are hiding in a closet in my house, which you dragged me into. How does that not concern me?"

"I had to pull you in to stop you. You were being to loud and he was going to hear you"

"Who?" she shook her head. "Shikamaru? Do you know him?"

She sighed "Yeah, what's he doing here."

"He is dating my sister. What I'd like to know is how you know him and why you are so afraid of him"

"I am not afraid of him" she scoffed. Her trembling said she was though. "He is from my village as you know and I don't want anyone to know I am here."

"He would recognize you? And you think he would send you back?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt he would, but it's a long story that I don't wish to share."

Gaara simply nodded. There was obviously an important story behind that but it would have to wait. He didn't want to push her and have her try to leave again. Right now, gaining her trust was what was important. "Well I will make sure the others know not to say anything then." His eyes were now adjusting to the dark and he could see the slight look of shock on her face.

"You would do that?" He nodded yes. She let out a sigh of relief "Alright."

The two sat in silence for a few moments now.

"Uh Rayne, about yesterday..."

"I swear that kid started it. Just ask Kankuro" she quickly interupted in her defence.

"What are you talking about?" he asked looking confused and slightly annoyed.

"Uhh...Nothing. What were you saying?"

"I just wanted to say that you can stay in my room still, you don't have to stay on the floor." He had felt a little bad about yesterday. After he finished dinner last night he had gone to look for her only to find that she was asleep in the hallway with the knife she had used to cut her cast of still in her hand. He picked her up and she snuggled close to his chest, surprising him. Gaara had then taken her to his room and tucked her into his bed, where she had curled up like a child. He didn't sleep that night, he had sat at his desk all night working and watching her sleep. He still found her interesting to watch. Temari had gotten home early in the morning and he got up to go sit with her and Shikamaru leaving her to sleep.

"Thanks but I wouldn't want to take your room away from you."

"It wouldn't be a trouble. I don't sleep much anyways."

"Yeah I know, I saw you on the roof a lot at night, but still I will have to decline. I can just stay on the couch if its alright"

"If that's what you want."

"Yeah I will be fine. I've slept on a lot worse." she chuchkled softly. Gaara didn't even want to think about what she had meant.

"Alright then. Well I should get back to the others before the start to wonder where I have gone. I will come find you when Shikamaru leaves to let you know"

"I'll... just stay here then" The Kazekage nodded and left, closing the door behind her and leaving her in the dark.

_ Well that was oddly nice of him _chimed Madarao.

_ Yeah. He's an odd guy._

_ Agreed. We need to be carefull of him. He's very unpredictable and I haven't the slightest clue what his motives for helping us are..._

_ Yeah _replied Rayne. She had a small feeling that she might be able to trust him though. She didn't share that with Madarao and brushed the thought away. She knew she couldn't trust him. If she had learned anything from life so far was that you couldn't trust anyone. Trust was a mistake she didn't plan to make again.

Gaara had kept his word and came back about a half hour later and told Rayne that Shikamaru had left, taking Temari with him. He didn't stay to talk and soon left for work leaving Rayne at home with Kankuro all day.

Rayne wandered out of the hallway and through the kitchen. She could see the top of Kankuro's spikey brown hair over the edge of the couch as he sat there flipping through channels on the television. She silently made her way into the living room and took a seat on the far end of the couch that took up much of the space in the room. Kankuro only looked up for a moment when she sat down before returning to his programs. Rayne pulled her legs up onto the couch and watched the changing channels, sitting in silence. Rayne had been told to rest for their mission tomorrow but she would not be able to sleep while he was here in the room with her, especially if they were the only two home. They were both starting to feel akward because of the silence. Kankuro now glanced at Rayne between a few channel changes, while she stared at the screen. The pupettere finally settled on some horror film. On screen a man was unrealistically cut in half by a psychopathic killer, spraying blood onto the screen as he screamed in pain. Rayne couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Kankuro looked at her again, this time with a slight smile on his face.

"Don't get any ideas" he smirked as he returned to watching the poorly filmed movie.

"No, that's not my style. I prefere to behead my victim before draining their blood and choping them up to store in my fridge." she said in a serious tone.

Kankuro gave her a worried glance before seeing the smile on her face. "Nice. I see you enjoy the canibalistic approach."

"Oh yes, much more practical. You should see how much it cuts down on my grocery bill." She replied

"I can only image." laughed Kankuro.

It didn't take long before the two of them were laughing together at the film and Rayne began to feel more at ease with Kankuro. After the movie ended she decided it would be safe to fall asleep. She would know if he was about to do something anyways, which was another gift from Madarao. Even though she slept she could, if she wanted to, remain conscious of her surroundings as she was sleeping: being able to hear smell and feel as though she were awake. It was a very useful ability to have, especially when on the run from shinobi comming to get you. Or if you were being forced against your will to stay at the Kazekage's house for the past few days. If only it worked the same as when she was unconscious. Rayne leaned her head on the arm rest and soon drifted off to sleep. She was aware when Kankuro got up and went to shower. She noticed when Temari came home, thankfully alone. She also heard when Gaara came home that night.

Temari had woken her up when dinner was ready and they all sat at the table and ate silently. As soon as dinner was over everyone went to bed. Rayne returned to the couch and laid down. She didn't want to wake anyone so she dismissed the idea of turning on the television. After trying to fall asleep for 15 minutes with still no results she got up and started to pace past the window. After about 10 minutes she began to hear noise coming from what she had learned to be Gaara's study down the hall. She silently returned to the couch. The study had grown quiet again and she now curled up. The house was colder at night and she got cold really easily. She closed her eyes with a loud sigh and tried to fall asleep again.

Gaara stood up from his chair in the study and put away what he was working on. He walked over and looked out the window in the room, watching his village. After a few minutes he realized it was getting late and closed the window. He was just going to check on Rayne then he would try and get some sleep. She appeared to be asleep when he walked into the living room. She was curled up on the couch and looked very cold so he went back down the hall to the closet and grabbed a heavy blanket for her. He returned and gently laid it over her and then went to his room. Rayne didn't need her odd sleep ability to know that Gaara had been the one who did it, she had still been awake. She snuggled into the oversized down blanket that smelled like him and drifted to a dreamless sleep.

Gaara was the first one up that morning, seeing as he had to be at work early. He quickly got dressed and grabbed the rest of Rayne's equipment before leaving his room. He dropped her stuff off at the end of the couch and then left for work.

As soon as she could tell that Gaara had left the house Rayne sat up and practically dove over the edge of the couch where she grabbed her staff which was wrapped in its case again. She cuddled it close to her and gave a sigh of relief. She instantly felt better with it back in her possession. She looked around to see that it was still very early so she laid back down for an hour with her staff now resting in her arms. When she finally got up Kankuro was in the kitchen getting something to eat.

"Good Morning" she said sleepily.

He gave a simple grunt in reply. Clearly he was not a morning person. Normally she wasn't either but then again, she had been awake for an hour already. She sat up and pulled the rest of her stuff into her lap. She put all of her stuff on feeling even better with the familiarity of her gear back with her. She did a few quick stretches before joining Kankuro in the kitchen where he handed her some food. After a quick breakfast the two of them were off heading to meet the rest of thier team for their first mission.

Akio glarred as Rayne and Kankuro walked towards them. They were ten minutes late which he considered unexceptable. This would never had happened with his old sensei. He was supprised to see that the girl looked a lot better than she had two days ago. She had healed surprising fast. Hitoshi stood quietly next to him, looking up as they approached.

"You're late" scolded Akio.

"What's your point kid?" asked Rayne. Kankuro had explained the mission to her as they were walking over. Today there were going to be helping some workers fix up houses of an rundown part of the city. She thought she had gotten past the crappy missions when she was in Konoha but here she was again.

"Stop calling me kid you bitch" he mumbled.

"What did you call me?" she asked annoyed.

"Nothing" he glared.

"How's that wrist of yours?"

He continued to glare but she cracked her knuckles and he scowled then walked away. "Alright, listen up you two. Here's what we are going to do be doing..." Rayne, having already heard about this began to dig into the dirt with the toe of her shoe. She slipped her hands into her pockets and glanced around observing the city. She had never been to this part of the town and it was a little depressing looking. Most of the buildings were really run-down and the people here didn't look much better. Everything here so... boring. The sand, buildings and even the people all seemed to be the same color, and everything seemed to look so tired. This place could really use all the help it could get. That still didn't mean that she wanted to help.

Kankuro finished up his explanation just as an old man in a work helmet came walking over. "You must be the help they sent" he called.

"Yes we are" replied Kankuro. The man stopped in front of them and eyed each of the team members before giving a heavy sight. "I guess this will have to do"

"What is that suppose to mean?" Akio mumbled quietly to Hitoshi, hoping Rayne wouldn't hear their conversation. Unfortunatly for him, she had amazing hearing and could hear every word he just said.

"It means you look adequate" she whispered to him.

"Don't but in our conversation" He glared angrily at her before they all took off to follow Kankuro and the old man. "Annoying Bitch" he mumbled to himself.

"I heard that" she chuckled before walking past them to stand by Kankuro. She could here his sharp intake of breath and looked back to see him scowling at her. She laughed to herself and kept walking. _Oh we are soo screwed if we ever go on a real mission. These guys are hopeless and I don't see how we could ever work together_

They walked in silence now as they followed the old man to where they were to be working. They passed through the broken part of the city. A group of dirty children played in the street and waved as they passed. The old man and Akio were the only ones to wave back. They turned down the next street and walked down past a few houses. The group stopped at the end of the street in front of an old looking building. It really looked in need of repair.

Under the old man's instruction the team got to work. There were floors that needed to be redone and walls in need of new paint. The old man, whose name Rayne never bothered to learn, set Hitoshi and Kankuro to work on the kitchen where they began to work on the new flooring. Rayne was left with Akio for a few moments as the other two went into the other room with the old builder. Akio had tried to protest working with her but Kankuro had quickly told him to shut up and do as he was told leaving Akio to pout now. Rayne tapped her foot impatiently as she listened to the others across the hall. After a few minutes the builder came back with a few buckets of paint and two large brushes. He handed them each a brush and they got to work painting, each on oposite sides of the room.

After about twenty minutes Kankuro was already sweating. Like everyday in the Sunagakure, it was hot. Being in this old building didn't help with the heat. He wiped his hand across his brow and looked over at Hitoshi who was still hard at work. The kid was small and quite but he could at least focus and work hard. Kankuro stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be right back Hitoshi. I'm going to check on the others. Please keep working" Hitoshi looked up nodded and went back to working. As he entered the hall way he could already hear the two arguing. As far as he could tell they had been going at it since they first started working but he wasn't even sure what it was about.

"Watch what you're doing you dumb ass. I swear, if you flick paint at me one more time I will beat you senseless"

"Quite being such a girl and stop complaining"

Kankuro stopped right outside the doorway and listened.

"I wouldn't be complaining if this was an accident but you are clearly doing this on purpose. These are the only clothes I have right now so I don't want to have them covered in paint."

"I am not doing this on purpose. You are just being a girl and making a big deal out of- Hey what the hell!"

Kankuro heard Rayne chuckle. "Oops sorry. I didn't mean to get paint on you. It was on accident, I _swear_"

"That was not on accident! You flicked the paint right at me!"

"Your right it was on purpose... and so was this" There was a splash and Akio cursed loudly. Kankuro looked in to see Rayne standing with one hand on her hip and an empty paint can in her other. Akio stood in front of her with paint all down the front of his clothing.

"Oh calm down, like you said earlier, its only paint" Rayne laughed to herself again. Akio clenched his fists and glarred at her.

Without warning he sent a punch at her which she easily dodged. "Hey, what was that for?" she said mockingly

"Damn it! Shut the hell up!" he threw more and more punches and kicks at her but none of them landed.

Rayne swiftly dodged his attack. "Didn't you ever learn its not polite to hit a girl?" she teased dodging a kick aimed for her head. "You really should learn to have better manners... and maybe learn to fight better. You really aren't very good" She sidestepped some furniture and he growled with rage and continued to try and hit her. "Very sloppy fighting" Rayne continued to step backwards, easily dodging all of his attacks. Her back hit the wall and Akio smirked. His fist flew towards her head but she dropped to the ground and it stuck the wall behind her. Rayne swunge her leg out and knocked him to the floor.

Akio sat up quickly, grabbing his injured hand as blood dripped from his split knuckles. "Damn it! I won't let a girl like you beat me"

"Just give up kid. There is no way you are going to win, ever"

"Don't underestimate me!" Akio jumped to his feet and began to make hand signs. At the same time Hitoshi and the old man came into the room to see what was going on.

Akio took a deep breath sucking in as much air as he could "Akio, stop it!" yelled Kankuro as he entered the room. It was too late and Akio let out air creating a large gale of wind. Kankuro pulled the builder and Hitoshi out of the room and into the hallway. Rayne threw her arms in front of her face and smashed into the wall behind her. Brushes and paints flew towards her, one bucket crashing next to her head. The old support beams and walls groaned in protest to the strong wind. She spun to the side as a wooden coffee table smashed towards her and then ducked again as a chair flew at her head.

When the wind stopped, Akio stood panting as the dust cleared. Everything behind him had remained untouched but everything that was in front of him, including Rayne had been forced against the wall. Rayne lowered her arms. "Impressive" she smirked. She stood up wiping paint off her face.

"What the hell were you thinking!" called Kankuro as he stormed back into the room. "You could have blown the whole damn building down! You were-" His rant was interrupted by a loud groan from the ceiling. It was followed by a series of more groans and cracks. "Shit, get down!" he yelled.

Rayne looked up as the ceiling began to collapse. The building had been unable to stand the winds created and now was crumbling down on them. With a rumble it collapsed on the team below.

Outside of the house other groups of builders and volunteers stood around at the collapsed remains of the old house. Only the wall that had stood behind Akio remained standing, and barely. Wood shifted and fell as Rayne crawled out of the debris covered in dust and scratches. She had been lucky, having turned and quickly dove under the coffee table that had almost hit her a few moments before. She had made it just in time and just barely avoided being crushed. She stood up coughed than began to brush the dust and splinters off of her clothing.

"Damn" she mumbled to herself. She turned around as she heard the sound of more shifting wood. Akio emerged from under a small table that had been in the corner of the room. "Nice going smart one, look what you did."

"Me? This was your fault too!" he shouted in defense.

"You're the one who thought it was a bright idea to use a jutsu like that inside. You have no control kid"

"Stop calling me kid!" He ran to tackle her but she grabbed him and using his own momentum against him, flipped him to the ground. She twisted his arm behind him and pressed her knee into his back, keeping him on the ground. Rayne pushed his head into the ground with her other hand.

"When will you learn? You. Can't. Beat. Me." she whispered into his ear. The sound of falling debris made her look up. She felt Akio try to turn his head and she removed her hand. A large wooden puppet shapped like a salamander moved revealing Kankuro, Hitoshi and the builder unharmed.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked Hitoshi and the old man. Hitoshi nodded and stood up.

"Am I okay? Am I okay? Look what these brats did do this house! Do you have any idea how old this house was?" he shouted as he pointed at Rayne and Akio. "You are lucky I wasn't killed by your stupidity! You better believe I am going to file a complaint. By the time I am finished you and your team will be lucky to get a D mission." He stood up and stumbled out of the wreckage. He swatted away anyone who tried to help him and stormed away.

Rayne watched him leave then looked towards Kankuro. "You two are in so much trouble" he growled.

"Damn" said Rayne as she stood up, allowing Akio to get up as well. He rubbed his back where Rayne's bony knee had dug into it.

Rayne and Akio had spent the rest of the day cleaning up as much of the mess as they could. Hitoshi had tried to help them but Kankuro wouldn't allow it and sent him home. He sat by the entire time and watched as they worked. By the time the sun had gone down both Rayne and Akio were compleatly exhausted.

"Were done you two. Your free to go home." called Kankuro as he stood up.

Akio fell to the ground where he breathed heavily. "Finally" he panted. "I thought we were never going to be done."

"I will contact you when we have our next mission. Let's go Rayne." She walked ahead of Kankuro leaving Akio laying there.

Rayne walked quietly behind Kankuro as they walked through the dark city on the way home. She was too tired to complain and just wanted to go to bed.

"You really kicked that kid's ass today Rayne" he said, slowing down to walk next to her.

"What?"

"Yeah. In your fight with Akio. You clearly won."

Rayne smirked. "Thanks, but aren't you mad about that?"

"Oh I was pretty pissed, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun to watch you beat him. He gets too worked up about everything." he grinned. "You two are on compleatly different skill levels. I can't belive Gaara put you on team with them. Your talent is being wasted on missions like this."

"Yeah I know. I am not exactly thrilled about this myself. I thought I was done with all these shitty missions. No offense but I am not really fond of your brother right now."

"Yeah but he really is doing what he thinks is best." he replied in a more serious tone. "He keeps the village's best interests in mind. This place and its people mean a lot to him. I hope you understand that."

"Yeah" she sighed. "I guess" She lowered her head.

"Did you see the look on Akio's face when he finished that jutsu and saw the ceiling starting to fall?" he smiled.

"No, what about it?" she said looking up.

"I swear, he looked like he was about to shit himself. He was so scarred" he laughed

"He probably did" she smiled back.

The two of them continued their walk home in a lot better mood. Both of them laughing most of the way back.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully this one was a little better than the last one. Or at least a little more exciting. I will be spending the next week on a beach so hopefully I can get some writing done while I'm there. Also I am very happy to see that the numbers of visitors I am getting is going up. Let's hope the numbers of reviews goes up as well *hint* *hint* :)  
>Reiko<p> 


	8. Chapter 7

I will apologize right now to the few of you who actually enjoy reading my story. I know it has been a while since I last updated. It is pretty sad that I have not put this chapter up seeing as it has been done for a long time. I have been having trouble writing lately and just bringing this up to edit seemed like too much work  
>Kara: "hmm...not like you do the editing."<br>I know, I'm lazy right? Haha. Well, I am sorry for the wait. Here's Chapter 7 for you. Enjoy!

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Night had fallen and it was starting to get chilly in the desert village. Street lights were starting to come on and the number of people on the streets started to diminish. Rayne and Kankuro were still laughing when they walk into the house around 9 o'clock that night. Temari had just returned home as well and they met her at the door.

"Hey guys. I assume the mission went well?" asked Temari as they all walked in. Kankuro glanced at Rayne who was covered in dirt and scrapes still, and they both let out another wave of laughter.

"What's so funny?" Asked Temari, very confused.

"Oh it went pretty great Temari" he laughed. "Real great acctually. Blew the roof off the place."

"My God Kankuro, I hope you are kidding"

"I wish"

"I don't even want to know" she sighed before walking into the kitchen with a smile. Rayne and Kankuro removed their shoes and then joined Temari and Gaara at the kitchen table. It wasn't unusual for them to eat this late seeing as they often got home late. After a quick dinner Rayne took a short shower to wash all the dirt and grime from today's mission off. After making sure all her scrapes were cleaned, she put on some spare clothing given to her by Temari and layed down on the couch in the living room where Temari was reading a book. She pulled the blanket she used the night before over her head and was sound asleep just moments after her head hit the pillow.

Gaara looked up from his desk as there was a knock on his door. Kankuro came into his office and sat down in one of the chairs across from the Kazekage's desk.

"How's it going Gaara? Temari said you might need a little help"

Gaara sighed and ran his hand through his dark red hair. There was a lot of work that still needed to be done but it was getting late and he wanted to go to bed. He had already gone throught the reports from Kankuro's mission today and that had put him in a foul mood. Now he was going throught the mission lists. They just didn't have enough Shinobi for all the jobs that seemed to be increasing. He had just finished reading another mission request. He had already gotten quite a few from a woman and she was starting to get on his nerves. "Well, I have been better" he said, sounding more annoyed than he meant to.

"What's that?" Asked Kankuro motioning to the mission request from the woman. "Anything I can help with?"

"It's this woman again. She has been demanding a team to retrieve a scroll that has been stolen from her family. They have established a meeting point but it sounds like a trap to me. She is one of those rich spoiled type so she demands the best we have but I really don't have anyone to send on this"

"Why don't you have me take care of it then? I know I am more than capable of handling something like this" said Kankuro hopefully. It had been a while since he had been on a good mission.

"What about your team? They are not ready for this high of a mission."

"I'll take them. They could definitely learn a thing or two from this. Plus, with Rayne with me I'm sure I can to handle this. That girl is tough. I'm sure she could deal with whatever we might come across."

Gaara thought about it and the more he did the more he started to wish he could be the one going on missions with her. He had been the one who saved her and the one who had brought her here but he had yet to spend much time with her. Instead it was Kankuro who-

"Well, what do you think Gaara?"

Gaara looked up at his brother. What was he thinking? Had he been almost... jealous? No, he was better than that. It didn't matter because they was nothing to be jealous of. Everything he was doing was for the sake of the village, there were no emotions attached. "I wouldn't even be considering this if it was almost anyone but you. You can have it, just be careful, we can't afford to lose any more people" he answered, handing the information to Kankuro.

"Thanks little brother, you won't regret this." he said with a smile.

"Make sure that I don't" he sighed.

"You'll be glad I helped" he laughed. "Well good night Gaara" waved Kankuro as he headed to the door.

Gaara waved him goodnight and whiped his face with his hand once the door was closed. He stood up from his chair and walked over the window. A cool night breeze came in as he opened the window and placed his hands on the ledge. He stared out at the village already feeling as though he was going to regret giving them this mission.

A few hours later Rayne bolted up out of bed with a small shout, pulling out a kunai she had hidden under her pillow. She looked around realizing that she had only been dreaming again. It had, of course, been the same dream again.

"Problem?" asked Gaara. He had been standing in the doorway to the living room watching her sleep, which he knew she would have found very creepy. He couldn't help it. She was interesting and he was drawn to her. He didn't mean to but he seemed to end up watching her more than he wanted to. To hide that he walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water making it look as though he had only been there by chance.

Rayne quickly whipped her head around to the direction his voice game from and gripped the blade tighter. "Wha-? Oh, it's you." She relaxed her grip on the the knife

"Is everything alright?" he asked looking at the raised kunai in her hand.

She swallowed and dropped the knife to the floor. There was a quiet "thud" as it landed on the carpet. "Yeah, everything is fine." she replied in a slightly suprised voice.

"Are you sure?"

Rayne simple gave a quick nod.

"Alright. Goodnight then." Gaara worried about her. He wouldn't admit it but he did. There was too much he didn't know about her and he didn't like it. He forced himself to turn around and leave the kitchen.

"Yeah"

Gaara returned to his room where he spent most of the night unable to sleep and instead listening to her tossing about in the living room.

Rayne was left breathing heavily in the living room when he turned and went to his own room. After waiting a few seconds, she fell back onto the couch with a sigh. She took a few deep breaths and whiped the cold sweat off her face. She waited until her breathing had returned to normal then flipped over burrying her face into the pillow. She tried to fall back asleep but ended up restlessly turning on the couch for the rest of the night.

Rayne's eyes quickly opened the next morning when she felt someone walk over to where she was suppose to be sleeping.

"Oh, good your awake." smiled Temari. The truth was Rayne had never gone back to sleep after last night but she didn't say anything.

"What's wrong?" she asked. It was morning now and light was shinning into the room from between the curtains.

"Nothing's wrong. I was just wondering if you wanted to go shopping. I figured you could use some new clothes."

"What's wrong with what I was wearing?"

"Nothing, it's just that those are all you have and they are getting old."

"I don't have any money" yawned Rayne. "How am I suppose to buy clothing?"

"My treat, so let's go." Rayne groaned as Temari pulled her out of bed and sent her to get ready.

"Temari! Don't you think this is enough" came Rayne's muffled voice from under the pile of clothing Temari had her carrying. The sand kunoichi laughed and led her towards the changing rooms in the back of the store. She shoved Rayne through one of the curtains and closed them behind her.

"Hurry up and change so I can see" said Temari. She had secreatly always wanted a little sister and was going to take full advantage of this moment. She continuously dragged Rayne in and out of the fitting room seeing each outfit she had picked out but soon discovered that Rayne was very picky. She didn't like a thing she tried on and rejected everything. Too loose. Too Tight. No ruffles. No stripes. Too bright. Too hot. No flowers. No patterns. Too revealing. Too much clothing. No Pinks. No Yellows. No dresses. No skirts. Nothing with heels. No sandles. Temari was starting to lose faith.

"Rayne hurry up and let me see the next outfit." called Temari as she sat in a chair outside the changing room. There was no answer from Rayne. "Rayne, you alright in there? Need a hand with anything?" Still there was no answer. Temari stood up and walked over. She pulled open the curtain and peered inside. Rayne was stuggling with a shirt that she couldn't get back over her head. She laughed a little until she once again noticed the large scar that took up much of her stomache. There was a similar scar, just as pale and jagged that covered the same area on her lower back. She caught herself staring and quickly looked up into the mirror to see Rayne's head sticking through the shirt with her arms still raised above her head. Rayne looked at her with an annoyed look on her face.

"Here, let me help you out of that" laughed Temari. She quickly helped pull the shirt back over Rayne's head and Rayne threw it into an mountonous pile of regected otufits.

"I'm going to go try to find something for a change" smirked Rayne as she exited the room.

In the end Rayne was able to pick some clothing they both liked. Rayne walked out of the store in her new outfit. She now wore a pair of short black shorts and knee high boots. On top she wore a gray strapless shirt made of a thick leather for protection, that laced up the back. Over that she wore a white tank top and on top of that a red one. Her last layer consisted of a black sleeveless v-neck shirt that also laced up the back. In the back the shirt ended at her knees but in the front it ended right at her waistline giving the illusion of a cape. A gray belt was worn around her waist and a black kunai pouch was on her right leg. Rayne thanked Temari for the third time and and the two of them headed home.

When they returned home, Kankuro was seated at the kitchen table waiting for them."Rayne, I have some news that I think you will like" he said with a grin.

"Oh and what would that be?" She replied, obviously curious. She took a seat across from him.

"My dearest brother has entrusted us with a mission."

Rayne raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what would that be?"

"He has assigned our team a special mission, a B-rank mission. In this mission we will be helping a very wealthy, not to mention high-paying, individual. This woman needs us to retrieve a scroll that was stolen by a rival family. We are suppose to bring them money and make the exchange. We are to get this scroll and prevent any damage from coming to it. Between you and me, it sort of sounds like a trap, but I think we can handle it. What do you think?"

"Let's go kick some ass" she grinned.

"I had a feeling you would be excited for this"

"I haven't had a real good, legal fight in a long time. There better be an ambush waiting for us."

"Hey I haven't had a good fight in a while either so you better save some fighting for me."

"I can't promise anything." she smirked. "So, when do we leave?"

Akio and Hitoshi were waiting at the village gate the next morning. Unlike Rayne and Kankuro, they were nervous, Akio hiding it better than Hitoshi. To keep himself calm Akio went through all of his equipment in his head. He heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Rayne and Kankuro walking towards them. _Why are they always together?_ he thought to himself. As they got closer he felt a small blush creep up to his face. It had been the first he had seen Rayne really cleaned up. The times before she still had looked a little sick and worn out. Her clothes had been worn and a little too big for her. It had been obvious that she had gotten new clothes that fit, _well._ Her long red hair had been neatly brushed and was blowing slightly in the breeze. Her two swords were stored in her belt.

He looked away from her and scowled. "Is it even legal for shinobi to wear shorts that short?" he whispered to Hitoshi.

"It's perfectally legal. Don't worry, there is no dress code!" Rayne called to them.

"How does she do that?" he hissed. "You're late, again!" he yelled to the two of them.

"Your just always early" replied Kankuro walking up next to them. "So are you guys ready?"

The two of them nodded. "Let's get going then," sighed Rayne. "I want to get there as soon as possible."

"Alright then follow me" said Kankuro as he started walking towards where they were meeting their client.

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I know, I know. This chapter wasn't very exciting and wasn't worthy of the ridiculously long wait for it. I promise that the next chapter will be out very soon and will be a lot better so please keep reading.

Kara: "yes please do.. i like editing"

Haha alright then. Please review! You will definitely be my best friend if you do! Here's a deal. If you get two reviews up by Friday night I will put the next chapter up Friday at 11! I'll be checking so there better be some reviews :)  
>~Reiko<p> 


	9. Chapter 8

Alright, again with the not updating soon enough. I apologize. I just get distracted really easily with other things i'm working on and then BAM! It's two weeks later and I haven't posted anything. It's partially your fault though because I just now got a second review on the last chapter haha. I'm just kidding, it's entirely me and my lazyness. Please enjoy the next chapter and if memory serves correct, this is a good one. :)

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"You have got to be kidding me!" Rayne was leaning against a rock with Kankuro to her rigtht and Akio and Hitoshi to her left.

"Holy Shit" mummbled Akio. Hitoshi nodded his head in agreement.

"Knock it off you guys. Didn't you ever learn to not disrespecct your clients!" hissed Kankuro.

A large woman who had to weigh over 250 pounds was stepping our of a carrige pulled by a single horse. Her face was plastered with make-up and she wore very expensive, not to mention very heavy, clothing. Her hair was done up with beads and sat atop her pudgy face.

"I can see why she didn't go get it herself" said Rayne

_"Eating someone that big would leave me full for a week! And with all that fat, the flavor would be marvelous!" _said Madarao

Rayne chuckled softly, earning a strange glance from Akio. _"Yeah but we don't eat people remember?"_

_"You might not, but I still would"_

_"Not while you are in my body you wouldn't"_

_"You are no fun at all"_

_"And I'm also not a cannibal Madarao"_

_"Suit yourself. Oh how I wish to eat them once more," _he sighed _"I fear we will never be seperated and I will never again have the chance"_

_"Maybe if you are good, we can make an exception"_

_"Really?" _he asked in disbelief.

_"No"_

Rayne turned her attention back to her team. Kankuro had just recieved the case of money from the client and she was climbing back into her carriage. Rayne smirked as the carriage sagged lower to the ground as she entered it. "Let's get going then" Kankuro called to them. Rayne pushed herself off of the rock and followed behind Kankuro. Akio and Hitoshi followed behind her quietly.

Three hours later they stopped for a quick break and Rayne passed the case of money to Hitoshi, for it was now his turn to carry it. On the trip here he and Akio had both been completely silent. It was obvious how scared they were. The two boys had not been on to many missions like this. Rayne kicked at the sand on the ground. She had started to hate the dessert. There was nothing but sand and dunes. No trees to scout from or hide in. No grass to lay down in, just seemingly endless sand and rocks. Up ahead she could see the large rock formations that they were supposed to be nearing. From what Kankuro had told her, they were heading into the mountainous terrain where they would meet at a large bridge that crossed a deep canyon. They were about an hour away and she was getting impatient. She really was ready for a fight.

A while later they were into the mountainous area. Large cliffs above them cast shadows on the ground below giving the team of shinobi some welcomed shade. Rayne stopped when she heard voices comming from ahead of them. Voices. They were only suppose to be meeting one man. Kankuro had been right, this was probably going to be an ambush.

"What is it Rayne?" questioned Kankuro, noticing her sudden stop.

"People, up ahead."

"People? As in more than one?"

"Yeah, sounds like four or five of them."

"How do you know?" asked Akio.

"I can hear them. Their voices are being carried by the wind back this way."

They were all silent for a moment as they listened "I don't hear anything" Akio said annoyed.

"Well I wouldn't expect someone like you to. I have pretty good hearing." she replied and then resumed walking. Kankuro started walking as well.

"Wait!" called Akio "We're going to just walk into a trap then?"

"I didn't think you believed me?" mocked Rayne.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing" replied Kankuro.

Their team slowly approached the bridge now. Rayne continued to listen hard and watch the area for any signs of more people. They turned the corner and found themselves facing the bridge. Four armed men stood on the other side. Rayne had been right.

"Stay back you guys" whispered Kankuro. He headed out farther to their side of the bridge. The men on the other side started to cross. "I take it you have the scroll we are here to get back." he called to them.

"Yeah" said the one in the front of the group. "But your not going to get it. Hand over the money and we will let you out of here alive."

"I don't think so" Kankuro stood his ground, clearly not intimidated by the group of men. "We are here to take that scroll back and are not leaving without it."

"Then it looks like were going to have to just kill you and take the money."

"You must have no idea who I am" laughed Kankuro. "Very well, if it's a fight you want then that's just what you'll get. You three gaurd the case and protect each other." The men on the bridge drew weapons. Kankuro stood before them and pulled scrolls from off his back. He bit his thumb, opened them and smeared blood across the seal, activating it. A cloud of smoke appeared and when it disapeared Kankuro stood with a large puppet drapped over his back and two larger ones on either side of him. Three of the man charged at him while the largest of them went around him and headed straight towards Rayne, Hitoshi and Akio.

Rayne quickly drew her attention away from Kankuro and towards the large man standing in front of her. Akio and Hitoshi both seemed to be paralized by fear for a moment. "Watch that case!" she yelled at them before stepping out in front of them. She took several large strides ahead of them before taking out her swords and combinding them. She gave it a quick spin before dropping into a deffensive stance. "If you want that case you will have to get through me." she grinned. The large man stopped in front of her. She swore he was a giant. He towered over her by at least three feet and outweighed her by about one hundered and fifty pounds, which really wasn't that hard because she barely weighed one hundred herself.

"You three are going to stop me? Don't make me laugh girl! Those two back there look like their going to shit their pants at any second! What can one girl do against me?" he said in a thick accent that Rayne didn't recognize. He went to step around Rayne and advance towards the others but she swung her staff towards him, suprising him and cutting a slash on the side of his face.

"Leave them out of this. I am your opponent."

"Fine" he growled wit annoyance. "I will just crush you and then your little friends!" He brought his fists together and smashed them down on the ground. Rayne jumped to the side and avoided being crushed. Unlike the other men he was with, this guy wasn't armed. _That's because he does enough damage with those sledgehammer fists of his _thought Rayne as she avoided another swing. She continued to jump away from him, leading him away from the boys. The guy was strong but Rayne was faster. He couldn't land a single hit. They continued like this for a while. The man starting to grow impatient.

"Quit running away!" he growled.

The kunoichi laughed, which only further irritated him. How could she be enjoying this? Rayne disappeared then reappeared behind him using a body flicker tecnique. "Who said anything about running?" she smirked. He swung around quickly and she flipped backwards to avoid him. Hitoshi suddenly yelled and she whipped her head around to see Kankuro's puppet infront of him. Kunai intended for the boys stuck in its wooden body. The puppet charged forwards and back into the fight.

Rayne remembering she was in her own fight, quickly turned around. She flipped back just in time to avoid being hit by a fist flying at her. She landed on her hands but lost her ballance as she landed on her feet. She tried to steady herself but fell backwards, catching herself on her hands. She kicked her legs up to kick at the man but he caught her foot. He picked her up by the ankle and she dropped her staff. He swung at her but she pulled herself up. When his fist soared under her head it just annoyed the man even more. He swung her, releasing her leg and sending her flying into a rocky wall. She cried out as her side hit the wall and the wind was knocked out of her.

Rayne's yell seemed to bring Akio back into the fight. "Shit!" he swore to himself. Rayne needed his help but he was too scared to move. Rayne hit the ground and the man laughed in his deep booming voice. "Who is laughing now little girl?" he called at her. Akio shook his head and looked over at Hitoshi who still was just standing there watching with wide eyes. "Hitoshi! Gaurd that case. I'm going to go help Rayne" the boy simply nodded to him. Akio looked over at Rayne to see that she was steadily pulling herself back up as the man walked towards her. He ran towards them. "Hey, shit-head! Over here!"

Rayne looked up to see Akio running straight at the large bandit. She stuggled to catch her breath as she pulled herself up. The bandit turned towards him. Akio didn't stand a chance fighting that guy head on. The man aimed a fist at Akio but Rayne jumped at him, tackling the smaller boy out of the way. "Stay down" she told him before performing another body flicker tecnique she jumped and kicked their attacker in the jaw. He stumbled backwards and she sent a series of strong punches to his face that were too fast for him to dodge. She sent another quick kick to his face and he fell backwards hitting the ground, his face now bloodied. Rayne panted, holding her bruised side.

"Is he out?" Akio asked stepping up next to her.

"Stay back kid. I don't know."

Akio ignored her warning and stepped closer to him. She called his name as a warning again.

"It's okay. I think we knocked him out."

"We? Listen, there was no we. I-" she cut her sentance short when she saw the man's hand clench.

"What?" he asked turning towards her.

Rayne swung her leg out, knocking Akio to the ground as the man got back up. His hand shot towards them and Rayne felt his fingers tighten around her throat. Her eyes widened as she was lifted from the ground and her hands went the the man's arms as she tried to pull him off her.

"I am going to kill you!" he shouted, spitting blood into her face. Akio looked up from the ground horrified. Rayne's one hand dropped to her side where she fumbled with her kunai pouch. He had cut off her air and black spots began to swim before her eyes. She pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the man's arm. He howled in pain and dropped her to the ground. Rayne coughed and scooted herself away from the man as she clutched her throat. She tried to yell to Akio to run but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth. She heard a horrible scream from the behind her as Kankuro killed one of his opponents. Then another yell from infront of her as the man kicked Akio towards her. He stooped down and lifted Akio by the front of his face only inches from the boy's own frightened face. He punched the boy in the stomache and then once again, causing him to cough up blood. He then tossed him away towards the the cliffs that the bridge crossed

Rayne struggled to her feet. Another cry came from behind her as Kankuro killed his second opponent. Akio was lifted in to the air again by the giant and he moaned weakly. _Akio you fucking idiot! You should have stayed out my way!_ she thought, trying to think of a plan to save him. An idea suddenly popped into her head and she pulled an explosive tag out from her shirt. She had stolen it from Akio this morning while they were waiting for their client. She ran towards the man as he faced Akio.

Kankuro finished his second opponent. He turned to see Akio being thrown dangerously close the edge of the cliff. Rayne pushed herself of the ground and pulled out a slip of paper. The man lifted up Akio over his head and held him there for a moment. Hitoshi yelled and then Akio was thrown over the cliff. Rayne kept running though. She looked over and made eye contact with Kankuro. It took a few seconds but then he realized what planned on doing.

"Rayne! No!" yelled Kankuro but it is too late. She jumped onto the man's back and stuck the paper between his shoulder blades before jumping off his shoulders. His hands reach back to try and tear it off as Rayne dove over the cliff after Akio.

Rayne heard the explosion go off as she began to fall over 100 feet towards the ground below.

_"Rayne what the hell are you doing? Are you crazy!"_

She ignored Madarou and reached out towards Akio. Rayne knew this was crazy but it didn't matter. She didn't like the kid but they were a team and she was going to save him. Her hands grabbed the back of his shirt and she pulled his limp body close to hers, wrapping an arm around the smaller boy. She sent a flow of chakra through her free hand and her feet as she tried to grab hold of the wall. Her hand and feet caught but they were going to fast. Rayne continued to slid down, gritting her teeth and pushing more chakra through her body. Finaly they started to slow as they get closer to the bottom and the walls of the cliff start to slant. Suddenly a rock came free, sending them both falling. Rayne crashed onto her side two feet down and they started to roll before they hit an ledge and fell the remaining eight feet to the bottom. Her back hit the ground and the wind was knocked out of her as they rolled to her side again. Akio was still held in her scraped up arms as her head hit the ground and she fell unconscious.

Kankuro finished off his final opponent as the explosive tag went off. His opponent was released from inside one of his puppets, his blood splattering to the ground. He rushed towards the edge of the cliff, avoiding the messy remains of Rayne's opponent. Hitoshi ran up behind him breathing heavily. Kankuro peered over the edge and cursed. There was no sign of the other two on his team. He sighed and pulled down his black hood, running his hands through his sweaty hair. "Shit!" he cursed under his breath. Hitoshi's knees give out and he fell down to the blood soaked ground.

"Akio? Not you too" he whimpered.

"Hitoshi?" The boy didn't respond. "Hitoshi, are you alright? Were you injured?"

The boy looked up at Kankuro. He looked confused for a moment then the look faded. "Yes, I'm fine. They didn't hurt me."

"Good, listen to me. Rayne and Akio will be fine. I'm going to go get the scoll we came for. Then we will take it to the drop off location a few miles away from here." Kankuro knew if they got it there on time Gaara wouldn't have to know that something had gone wrong. Rayne was smart. She wouldn't have jumped like that if she didn't think she could save him. They would be alive. They might be hurt but they were definitely alive.

"But-"

"Just listen. After that we will come back here and try to find a safer way down. I promise you we will find the two of them alive. We won't go back without them."

Hitoshi nodded. "Alright sensei" he said quietly. Kankuro held out his hand for Hitoshi to take and pulled him up. He led the younger boy away from the area they had fought in and started to look for the scroll. They found it after a few minutes and they took off running to the drop off point.

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Cliffhanger! Haha, oh no! I really like this chapter and I really hope you did too. Just a funny bit of information for you, I had to go through and edit the last third of my story because for some reason I started to randomly write it in present tense instead of past tense. That was fun changing everything. Well I hope you enjoyed it. Please review it. To be honest I really want someone to send me a flame. I have never really gotten one so someone please, go ahead. Say something bad, I'm literally begging you. Normally I'm rather sarcastic but not right now. I want someone to say something bad! Also I'm slightly a lot paranoid that Rayne is starting to seem like a Mary-Sue. Please, please, please! Tell me if she is so I can fix it. I really can't stand characters like that so I don't want Rayne to turn into one! (Kyra: yes that would be bad... wouldn't it?) Help me save her! Alright, I'm done ranting. Thanks for reading. Please review and I will be your best friend! ( Kyra: and let me know about my editing)  
>~Reiko<p> 


	10. Chapter 9

Alright, I wasn't going to put this up till I got another review but I decided not to worry about reviews too much anymore. As usual I only own the plot and my characters. Enjoy reading.

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Chapter 9

It had only taken a few minutes for Rayne to regain consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes and placed her hand on the bump on the back of her head. There was a heavy preasure on her chest and she looked down to see Akio still unconscious. She rolled him off her and took a few deep breaths. Her memory was foggy at first but after a few minutes she remembered how she had gone down there.

"_What the bloody hell were you thinking! Were you trying to kill yourself? You have to be the single most reckless person I have ever met. You could have killed the both of us! I saw my life flash before my non-existing eyes!"_

Rayne groaned trying to block him out. Her head was pounding and he was only making it ten times worse. "Aww, Fuck". She made an attempt to get up but her whole body hurt so she resigned to laying on the ground. She waited a few moments then turned her head to her side. Akio was laying there, he looked mostly unharmed but he was still unconscious. _Must have hit his head when he was thrown_. Despite the pain she was in, Rayne struggled to pull herself up onto her hands and knees and crawled over to her unconscious team member.

"Akio? Hey kid, wake up." She gently shook his shoulder. He didn't respond so she shook him again. "Hey! Get your lazy ass up!" She slapped him lightly on the side of his face.

His eyes fluttered open for a moment. He looked very confused for a moment then tried to sit up. He yelped and clutched at his side.

"Akio, are you alright?"

He looked up at her for a moment, mumbled something she couldn't understand then passed out again.

"Shit" she sighed. "You little bastard." She pulled up the side of his shirt to see his sides were badly bruised. She smoothed his shirt back into place leaving small smears of blood. She glanced up at his face to see similar marks then down to her hands. Her one hand was covered in dried blood. The tips of her fingers were shredded from where she had forced out too much chakra and where they had tried to get a hold on the wall. She grimmaced slightly as she wipped her hands on her shorts.

_"So, oh wise one, what are you going to do now?" _questioned the demon in her head.

_"Well I was thinking I could... well we could... Alright, I got nothing." _she addmited, annoyed.

_"Rayne!" _he groaned. _"What were you thinking?"_

_"I was thinking," _she replied annoyed_, "that I was going to save that boy's life" _she replied gesturing at Akio

_"Well you better keep thinking if you want to get us out of here alive sweet-heart"_

"I'm working on it..." she mumbled. She looked around. It was obvious that they were at the bottom of the canyon. Kankuro and Hitoshi had to be a while away by now, hopefully delivering that scroll like they were supposed to. They wouldn't be back for hours and she wanted Akio to get out of the sun. She fell back onto the ground, annoyed. She scrapped at the dirt around her noticing that it wasn't hard and dry like the rest of the area. _Water! There has to be some around here"_

Rayne sat up again and looked around. They hadn't moved far from where they had fallen. She could see the ledge she hit above her and the bridge off to the side. "_Maybe if I head back the way we started we can find some shelter and water. On the down side we would be making it harder for the others to find us."_

_"Well, what's it going to be?"_

_"Damn it! Will you shut the hell up you stupid mutt! You're input is not helping me at all" _She stood up quickly, too quickly. Stars swam in front of her eyes and she almost lost her balance. She regained her footing and stumbled over to Akio. She knelt down next to him and grabbed his arms. She lifted him onto her back and started off towards the direction they had originally came from.

The first thing Akio was aware of was an aching pain in his chest. His ribs hurt and each breath he took caused sharp pain to shoot through him. His memory of his fight slowly came back to him. The second thing he became aware of was the up and down motion he felt. He realized he was being carried. The first thought that popped into his head was that he had been captured. He had lost his fight, something had happened to his team, worse something had happened to Hitoshi, and he had been taken captured by the ruthless bandits that had attacked them. Who ever was carrying him was breathing hard, and probably injured. If they were hurt he might be able to run. But to where? His captor stumbled a little and almost fell. He cracked his eyes open only to see Rayne's bright red hair.

Rayne felt Akio stir but didn't pay much attention to it. She was tired and didn't think she would be able to keep walking much farther. The kid was feeling heavier and heavier with each step. She was very lightheaded and her throat was dry. She grimaced as she stumbled. She licked blood of her bleeding chapped lips, probably making it worse.

"Wha-What's going on?" came a slight mumble.

Rayne stopped walking. "Akio? You awake?" she panted.

"Yeah, but what the hell are you doing? Put me down!" he said with annoyance.

Rayne let out a sigh. "Thank god, I was getting tired of carrying your lazy ass around." she said then collapsed to the ground, sending Akio crashing to the ground with her. He swore as he hit the ground, inflicting further pain to his ribs.

"What the hell Rayne!" he pulled himself up and glarred at her. His glare softened when he realized she wasn't moving and was not looking to good either. "Hey, what's wrong?" He crawled closer to her despite the pain in his side. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Her hand reached up gently grabbed his wrist.

"Fuck off." she mummbled. "I'm just tired."

Akio looked around. The bridge they were near earlier was nowhere in sight. There was a small stream that was flowing up ahead. "Rayne, how far did you carry me?"

"I- I don't really... know." she tried to push herself up. "Few miles... maybe..." she quietly mumbled before she collapsed back onto the ground and passed out.

"Rayne? Hey, are you alright?" She didn't respond which worried the young boy. He remembered the river suddenly and pulled himself shackily to his feet. He winced and clutched at his side as he bent down to grab Ryane. He slowly dragged her towards the water and sat down in it with Rayne's head resting on his lap. He cupped his hands and took a few drinks of water to cool his parched throat before giving some to Rayne. He carefully brushed her tangled hair off her sweaty face. She wasn't like most girls he knew. Here she was covered in dirt, sweat and blood, having gotten multiple injuries, yet she hadn't complaining at all. She was tough and a good fighter. Not to mention she had saved his life a while ago. She had carried him for hours to get them here until she collapsed. He was starting to gain a bit of respect for the kunoichi. He wouldn't say that to her though. He started to blush slightly as he stared at her face. He brought another cupped hand of water to her lips.

Rayne sputtered and coughed and swiped at his hand while rolling away from him. Water splashed around them. "What the hell are you doing?" she coughed.

"I was just trying to help, calm down." he said without looking her in the face.

"Oh, sorry then. You just startled me"

"What, are you easily startled?" he joked.

"You would be if you lived my life."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Forget I said anything."

There was a moment of awkward silence; the only sound coming from the running water. "Why did you save me?" asked Akio quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"You left the entire team in danger to go after me? What were you thinking? What if something happened to the others?"

"Calm down. Kankuro was finishing off the last of his opponenents. Plus I am almost postitve that I killed the man we were fighting. I didn't plan to kill him but you know, things just happen. I didn't leave the others with anything to take care of." Akio looked a little stunned. He hadn't expected her to say that. "You may not be one of my favorite people, far from it actually, but you are on my team. I wasn't going to let one of my team mates die. I'm not that bad of a person Akio, I do have some values."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?"

"Hey be a little more grateful you brat. I just saved your life."

"Whatever" he scoffed. "So where the hell are we?"

"In a canyon" Replied Rayne as she washed the dried blood of her hands in the stream. Once she did she began to wash her face.

"That's really helpfull" he glared at her.

"That's all I know alright."

"Well, what's the plan then? Please tell me you at least have a plan"

"For now, survive. I figure we find shelter and wait it out till Kankuro comes and finds us. I'm too tired for much else and I doubt you're ready to walk back either."

"That's your plan?"

"Mhm"

"Your plan sucks!"

"And do you have any better ideas smart one?"

"No but-"

"Exactaly. So shut the hell up and lets get going" she said pulling herself up with a slight wince.

"Fine but I'm just telling you we are never going to find-"

"Shelter" sighed Rayne as she walked into a small cave in the side of the canyon wall. Akio didn't believe they would find anything but here they were. The shelter was small with a low ceiling but it would work for now. The sun had yet to set but it would start soon.

"Alright, so we found some. Now what do we do?"

"Well there isn't anything to start a fire with so I'm going to sleep"

"What? You can't be serious!"

"Akio, there isn't anything we can do but wait till Kankuro gets here. I understand that this is your first real mission but it isn't mine. I know what I'm doing." Rayne slipped her top layer of clothing over her head and folded it up to use as a pillow. "The best thing we can do is wait. Now if you want to go cry in the corner then feel free but I am going to sleep."

"You know this isn't my first real mission" he said softly

"What was then" she asked laying down facing him.

"I-I don't want to talk about it"

"Then why bother bringing it up?" she growled with annoyance.

"You know what, I'm getting really tired of your attitude! I lost two members of my team on that mission! So excuse me if I don't feel like talking about it!" he shouted at her angrily.

"Calm down kid, you get worked up too easily."

"Sorry we can't all be heartless bitches like you! And I said stop calling me kid!"

Rayne sighed again. "Oh will you knock it off! Do you know why I call you 'Kid'? It's because you act like one. Stop acting like you are the only one with problems."

"You know what? Forget I said anything" he growled before laying down facing away from her.

There was a silence for a little while but then Rayne sighed and spoke again. "Hey, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to start something. I was just asking out of curiosity"

Akio turned back over to face her. The sun was setting outside of the cave but there was still enough light outside that they could see fairly well in the cave. "You really want to know what happened?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, why not. We've got nothing better to be doing right now."

Akio was silent for a moment while he was thinking then he turned over onto his back and placed his hands under his head. "Well it was suppose to be a simple mission. We were just going to go pick up a special package for this poor guy. It was a low ranking mission so no one thought it was anything to worry about. My team heads out there to pick this up and" he swallows loudly "Well, you see it turns out to be an ambush. The guy who sent us on this mission knew it was more dangerous than he said but he didn't have the money. We weren't ready to fight these guys. None of us had any real fighting experience. Our sensei tried to fight them off and save us but there were too many." Another loud swallow. Akio now began to talk a bit slower. "The other guy on our team... well, he was a real jerk sometimes. You probably would have liked him. Actually you would have probably hated each other but anyways. This guy could be a jerk but he was a good friend. He was one of the bravest people I knew. He went out there, even though our sensei had told us all to run. He, uhh, he said he couldn't leave anyone behind. This guy was loyal as hell. Him and sensei tried to fight off those guys but like I said, there were too many of them. Hitoshi and I, we couldn't move. You ever have that where you are just so scarred that you can't even move? Like your paralized?" he asked looking over at her. Rayne shrugged her shoulders. "I figured you wouldn't know what I was talking about. But anyways, all we could do is sit there and watch. One of the enemies tried to go after Hitoshi. Poor Hitoshi couldn't even move. Our sensei- well he-"

"You okay?" asked Rayne. "You don't have to tell the rest if you don't want to. I can tell where it's going from here."

"I'm fine." Akio cleared his throat. "The guy, he almost got Hitoshi but our sensei jumped into the way. Got a real nasty gash on his leg, but he kept fighting. He was a really determined guy. He just kept bleeding everywhere but he didn't give up. Then my friend he, he got stabbed. Right in the stomache. A few seconds later a kunai flew at the man that stabbed my friend. Thankfully someone had heard about what the man did and they sent back up. I don't know if you knew this but Hitoshi was a medic."

"What do you mean, 'was'? How do you just stop being a medic?"

"Well Hitoshi ran over to our friend. By now the reinforcements had gotten there and were fighting the enemies. Our friend, he- he swore he was okay" At this point Akio's voice had cracked and she could tell he was on the verge of tears. "He swore he was okay and told Hitoshi to go help our sensei. He had just collapsed. I sat with our friend and help bandages over his wound but- but- there was just so much blood. It just soaked through. I kept looking over at Hitoshi but he was still with our sensei. His hands covered in blood. The blood of the man who had trained us since we were little. It seemed like forever when Hitoshi finally came back over. He- he told me our sensei was d- dead. We tried to save our friend but... he just lost too much blood. That stupid bastard. If we had only tried to help him first, maybe... maybe he would have lived. But he didn't... he died. I was holding onto him but he died, in my arms." Akio wipped his eyes on his sleeve and Rayne pretended not to notice. "He had been our best friend since we were in academy. For someone who was such a normal part of your daily life to just disapear like that. To know that you will never see them again. Never hear their voice." Akio took another pause for a second, then spoke again with his voice now a little more steady. "I don't remember too much of what happened after. I passed out after he died. When I woke up I was back in the village. Hitoshi took it really hard. He wasn't always this quiet and now he refuses to use medical justsu. He blames himself for their deaths because he couldn't save them. It's just so hard to believe that they have only been gone for a few weeks." He then turned away from her again and she had the feeling he was crying and didn't want her to see.

"I'm sorry Akio, about your team. I shouldn't have said anything"

"Whatever, I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"No, that's what's bad about it. I should know better. You know, I'm not really a compleatly heartless bitch. I should have been a little understanding. I also lost the rest of my team."

"What?" he asked, turning over again to face her. "What happened? Did they... die?"

Rayne turned over onto her back. "Well they're not dead. At least I don't think they are. I'm pretty sure you at least figured out that I came from a different village. I had to leave my old team back there. I have no idea what might have happened to them in the time I have been gone."

"Well, why did you leave then? Where were you originally from"

"It's not like I wanted to. But look Akio. I really don't want to talk about it. It's not really any of your business and its pretty personal. _How do you explain to a kid that you are hiding from your village after escaping from one of their higher security prisons?_

"Alright, I get it. You'd like to remain a mystery."

"Yeah. It adds to my sex appeal" she smirked. The young boy just rolled his eyes. The kunoichi turned over to her side so that her back was facing Akio. "Well thats enough story time for me. I'm going to bed" she said not bothering to fix the back of her shirt that had begun to ride up on her back.

Akio glanced over at her. "Alright whatev- Whoa! How the hell did you get that?" he asked. His ribs were badly bruised so it hurt to sit up. Instead he tried to lean closer to see the large scar that was barely visible in the fading light.

"Get what?" she yawned. She was now getting really tired and wanted to go to bed.

"That scar! It's huge!"

Rayne pulled down the back of her shirt to cover it back up. "Oh that. Yeah I know."

"What did you do to get that?"

"I don't really want to talk about it. Let's just say that I saved a friends life on a mission a few years ago."

"That must have hurt like a bitch! How'd you survive that one?"

Rayne couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't a sweet laugh like you would expect to hear from a young girl. It was creepy, making Akio's hair stand up a little. "You don't"

"Wait, what do you-"

"Akio"

"What?"

"Go to bed" she commanded as the last of the light began to fade out of the cave as the sun finished sinking.

It was a few hours later. After the sun went down it had started to get cold and by now it was freezing in the cave. Rayne now was sitting against the wall, miserable but still. Her shirt was now being used as a blanket and she slept lightly. Akio on the other hand was tossing and turning and swearing under his breath.

"Will you knock it off?" she hissed with her eyes still closed.

"I thought you were asleep"

"I was"

"Well sorry, it's cold"

"That doesnt mean you have permission to make so much noise. Go be misserable quietly"

Akio continued to toss and turn and Rayne was getting progressively more pissed off. It was making her question the idea she had earlier. She didn't want to it but it was really a matter of survival. She didn't want him anywhere near her but if he kept this up she was going to miss some much needed sleep.

"Akio, get over here"

He eyed her suspiciously. "Why"

Her voice remained calm and emotionless. "If you come sit next to me you'll be warmer."

"Eww, I'll pass. I think I would rather freeze to death" he said as he burried his head further down into his coat.

"Suit yourself" she replied pulling her shirt tighter around her and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, she heard Akio shuffle to his feet and walk towards her. He slid down next to her. "I thought you said-"

"Just don't say anything. Please"

"Alright" she laughed. She could tell he was feeling awkward now because he was now starting to fidget. It was starting to annoy her even more than the tossing and turning earlier. "Kid, if you don't stop moving, I am going to beat you into unconsciousness."

"Sorry" he mummbled.

Akio finally stopped moving around and settled down. About twenty minutes later he fell asleep. His head dropped to her shoulder. She scowled but let him be. She didn't fall back asleep that night. Instead she looked out the opening of the cave and watched the stars. They were really bright when there weren't city lights shining.

The sun had just risen when Kankuro and Hitoshi came across a cave in the side of the canyon wall. He told Hitoshi to stand back and carefully walked towards it. He looked in, not sure what to expect but was happily surprised when he saw two figures huddled near the wall. To be honest he was a little worried about Rayne and Akio. He wasn't even sure he would be able to find them in time, especially with they way the two of them acted. It was more likely that they would have killed themselves fighting each other than anything else. He waved Hitoshi over to where he was standing. "Looks like the two of them solved their differencces" he grinned.

Rayne heard him whisper to Hitoshi and immediately lifter her head up to look at him. She waved to them with her free arm. Her other had fallen asleep pinned to her side by Akio. His head was still on her shoulder. She gentaly nudged him with her elbow and he lifted his head and looked at her.

"What's going on?" he asked sleepily.

Rayne pointed over to the opening of the cave.

"Akio!" called Hitoshi. The boy ran over to the other one and tackled him to the ground with a hug.

Kankuro walked over to Rayne and held his hand out to her. "You guys okay?"

"A little cold, tired and bruised but we'll live." she replied taking his hand. He helped pull her up. She slipped her other shirt back over her head and smoothed it out with her hands

"Good to hear. Let's get out of here and back to the village. We're going to celebrate. Congratulations guys, we successfully finished our first B rank mission." he grinned.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Alright hope you enjoyed. I will try to get the next chapter up some time this week. Please review or send tips :)  
>~Reiko<p> 


	11. Chapter 10

Dear "Angry Reader",  
>Thank you so much! I have sort of been in a slump lately and haven't had the inspiration to write or post anything. I now know that there must be someone who wants to read my story. Sorry it has been such a long wait but I hope you enjoy this chapter. I will try to start writing again. Enjoy :)<p>

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Chapter 10

3 months later

The front door to the house slammed shut causing Temari to look up from her spot in the living room. Kankuro and Rayne walked through the kitchen after returning from their latest mission. A long cut was carved into Rayne's upper arm and blood covered her forearm. The wound wasn't too new. The blood had already dried. She threw her staff and bag onto the floor as she came into the living room. Temari watched them settle into the room. Kankuro fell into a plush chair and Rayne walked past her and flopped onto the same sofa she was sitting on.

"How'd the mission go?" asked the sand Kunoichi.

All she got from Rayne was a muffled moan. Her face was buried into the sofa pillows.

"It went fine. It was a success and we had only a few injuries." replied Kankuro. More angry mumbles came from the pillow.

"What did she say?" laughed Temari.

"She's just mad. Akio wasn't paying attention and she got cut while saving him." replied Kankuro. Lucky for him Akio and Rayne had been getting a lot better now. The two of them were still far from getting along but at least they weren't always trying to kill each other. Akio had started acting a little more friendly after Rayne had saved his life on that B ranked mission. They had been sticking to simpler missions since then.

"Yeah I noticed her arm. Rayne do something with that. Your going to get blood on the couch."

Rayne just mumbled something into the pillow again. Temari smiled then got up and went into the kitchen, returning with a wet rag. She grabbed Rayne's arm and began to wipe the blood off her arm. Rayne mumbled something that sounded like a 'thank you'.

"Should I take you to the hospital to get this checked out really quick?" asked Temari. This had become a joke between them. Temari had soon learned that Rayne would never go to the hospital but she still insisted on asking because it annoyed the hell out of Rayne.

Gaara heard Rayne and Kankuro come in after their mission from in his office. It seemed their mission was a success. So far their team had only failed one mission, which had been the house they demolished on their first mission. The past three months had gone by rather well for their team. Rayne had gotten closer to both her team and his family. Unfortunately he still hasn't been able to get more information out of her. At the first mention of her past she instantly shuts him off. She also kept whatever special jutsu's of hers, if she even had any, completely secret. On the bright side she had at least managed to stay out of too much trouble while here. The only real problem they had was when he had to go pick her up after she gotten drunk, started a bar fight and got kicked out by the owner. It had looked bad for him when he had to go pick her up but the issue had been resolved quickly. All in all things had been going well.

It was soon after she returned home that Rayne started to feel it. There wasn't something wrong with her physically but she couldn't sit still. She was easily distracted and kept spacing out. She knew what was going on. It had happened many times before. Gaara had been giving her worried glances all day like he could tell something was wrong. It was odd having him home all day. He didn't have to into work until later that night and Temari and Kankuro were both free from work today, leaving all three siblings at home.

It wasn't till that afternoon when she began to physically feel it. In a matter of minutes the temperature in the room felt like it had dropped by 50 degrees. She stared to worry now. She didn't want the others to see her like this. It had been bad enough when Gaara had found her the first time. She tried to calmly get out off the couch without attracting attention but ended up getting up a little faster than she planned to, causing Gaara to shoot her another worried look. She gave him a quick smile before heading into the kitchen. She got a glass of water and set it down on the counter. She was shivering now and gripped the edges of the counter hard, her knuckles turning white.

"Calm down, calm down" she repeated to herself. Having a panic attack would do nothing to help her. She reached her hand up to her neck and found her pulse. Counting her heartbeats always seemed to help calm her down. There was nothing she could do now, she reminded herself, this was going to happen no matter what.

"Rayne? Are you alright?"

The Kunoichi jumped and quickly whirled around to see Gaara standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "Gaara? " She laughed nervously. "You snuck up on me"

"Rayne, what's going on?" he asked. He leaned on the door frame, blocking the only exit out of the kitchen.

"Nothing's wrong." She grabbed her glass of water and took a sip. "I was just thirsty so I came to get a drink."

"You've been out of it all day and your shaking" Rayne looked down at the glass of water in her hand. She was indeed shaking still and ripples could be seen in the water.

"What? That's nothing. It's just too damn cold in your house."

"We live in a dessert, it's never cold here in the day."

"Well that's a matter of opinion. I think it's cold." She placed her glass back down on the counter and walked towards the door. She meant to move around the young Kazekage but he placed his hand out, blocking her from leaving.

"Rayne?" he said. He sounded generally concerned to her. She sighed and looked up at him. "I just want to make sure that you are okay. Are you going to... I mean, you're not going to get sick again are you?"

"You don't need to worry about me. I can tell if its going to happen, hours before it even does. Regardless, there is nothing you would be able to do for me." She gave him one last almost apologetic look and pushed past him, returning to the living room where the others were. Gaara couldn't help but notice how hot she felt as she pushed past him.

Around 6 o'clock that night Gaara left for his meeting, leaving the others to stay at home for the night. He wasn't too eager to leave, especially with the way Rayne was acting, but he went anyways. It was an important meeting he couldn't really afford to miss.

Rayne sat in the living room with the other two sand siblings. Temari was reading a book in one chair while Kankuro was messing with one of his puppets in the other. Rayne sat on what she had declared "her couch" with a book in her lap. It was some sappy romance novel Temari had loaned her but she was finding it hard to pay attention too. Even under normal circumstances she would have found the book difficult to read, seeing as that genre didn't interest her at all, but right now the thing that was distracting her from the book was the intense pain in her head. She was having trouble thinking straight. All she knew was that she had to get out of there, very soon. She slowly got off the couch and headed down the hall way. Moving caused sharp stabs of pain to go through her skull.

"Rayne? You alright?" called Kankuro.

"Yeah. Bathroom" was all she managed to choke out through clenched teeth, trying to sound as normal as possible. She headed down the hallway. She had done well up until now in hiding the fact that she was in pain, but now it was becoming unbearable. The sharp pain was now building in her chest. She stumbled into Gaara's room and flung the bathroom door open. Her hands were shaking terribly as she locked the door behind her. Her temperature was rising far beyond normal now and she ran cold water from the sink and splashed it into her face trying to cool herself down. Another sharp pain shot through her chest and she grunted in pain. She gripped the counter tighter trying to prevent herself from falling. Rayne staggered over to the wall and leaned against it. She slowly slipped down and collapsed on the floor. Her whole body started to feel like it was on fire and she dug her nails into her skin. She brought her hand to her mouth and bit down hard to keep herself from crying out. Her abnormally sharp teeth sank into her skin and blood well up from the wound. Her mouth was filled with it's copper taste and tears rolled down her face. All she could do is sit in pain and wait for it to pass.

A loud banging comes from the other side of the door. "Hey, are you alright?" called Temari. Rayne couldn't answer, she just squeezed her eyes shut. Blood from her hand now ran down her arm and onto the cold bathroom tiles. She curled up into a tighter ball.

"Rayne!" Came her worried voice again. There was still no response. "Hey, if you don't answer me, I'm coming in there!" Rayne wanted nothing more than to say she was okay and keep the two other sand siblings from worrying but she couldn't form the words or even the thoughts to say anything.

There was more pounding on the door then it went quite again. After a few minutes Rayne again heard someone at the door again, but she was starting to loose consciousness. The door burst open and she opened her eyes to see Temari kneel down in front of her. Kankuro's face was visible peering into the bathroom. Both of them looked frightened. Soon blackness started to take over her vision and Rayne blacked out.

Temari looked down at Rayne. Blood was pouring down her arm now and she had fallen unconscious. She looked almost as bad as she did the night Gaara had first brought her here. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain. Her skin burned with a fever again and all the colour had drained from her face. She looked over her shoulder at her worried brother. "Get Gaara"

A few hours later Rayne woke up. Someone had pilled blankets on her and she was covered in sweat from the heat. She was back on her couch in the living room and it had gone dark. She weakly raised her arms and started pulling off blankets.

"Why'd you lie to me?" Gaara was standing by the window on the far-side of the room. His face was illuminated by the moonlight.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to inconvenience anyone." She looked over at him but he kept his gaze on the window. An uncomfortable silenced settled on the room. "What time is it?"

"It's only 9" he replied roughly

"What about your meeting? I thought it wasn't over until later?"

_You were more important _he thought. "It wasn't that important. I told them I had a family emergency and they understood."

"You didn't need to do that. I would have been fine."

He finally turned around to face her. "And how would I know that? I don't know what's wrong with you. You haven't told me a thing Rayne. Everytime I try to ask you compleatly ignore me. You have too many secrets. You've been with us for a few months and we still barely know anything about you."

"I know, and I'm sorry, I just can't tell you."

"Why? I don't get whats wrong."

"It would be bad for both of us if you ended up knowing too much. Trust me."

"How can I trust you? You don't even trust us." he had walked over closer to the couch. She could tell from his tone of voice he was starting to loose patience.

"Yeah well if you knew what happened last time I tried to trust people you would be a little more understanding. I've tried to trust people but then I end up getting screwed! Why would you be _any _different?" She looked away from him and starred at the back of the couch.

He sat down in a chair near the couch. "How many of those people had demon's sealed inside of them too?"

"So you figured that out."

"Rayne, if anyone would understand it would be me. I know what its like to live like that, where everyone hates you. Or where people are afraid to be around you. My own father tried to kill me."

She looked him in the eyes. She was good at hiding her emotions. Not a clue of what she was thinking was shown on her face. "But-"

"You can trust me." He stated strongly. He got up and sat on the end of the couch.

She now looked conflicted. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to tell him. It wasn't something she liked to talk about. But, he had done so much to help her, even if he hadn't realized it. Didn't he deserve to know?

"Oh fuck you." she growled before painfully pushing herself into a sitting position. Her whole body was still sore from earlier. She began to carefully pull her shirts over her head until all that was left was her strapless gray shirt.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he asked hoping she didn't notice his stutter. A slight blush crept into his face but was hard to notice in the darkened room.

"Just shut up." She swung her legs over the side of the couch and got up. Gaara reached out and called her name in an annoyed protest. She pushed his hand away and walked over to the window where there was light. Her skin was smooth and pale in the moonlight. "Come over here" she called quietly. The Kazekage slowly stood up and followed her over to the window. As he stood by her she let out a heavy sigh. She had only told this story twice before. She turned her back to him and lifted up the back of her shirt, revealing the scar on her back. She was facing away from him so she didn't see his eyes widen a little in surprise but she heard his almost silent intake of breath. She flinched when he unexpectedly placed his warm hand gently on her scar. She turned around showing him the scar in the front.

His voice softened, "What happened?"

"It's a long story, are you sure you want to stand to hear it all" she laughed. Gaara simply nodded. "Well a few years ago, when I was back in the leaf, my team was assigned to a mission. It wasn't supposed to be anything hard, it was just before the chunin exams and my team was going to compete. Things ended up going all wrong, and I ended up getting killed..."

_Cold wind was blowing hard and the snow was falling at an almost blinding rate. Rayne raced through the trees, the cold air stinging her lungs. Her face and feet had gone numb from running through the snow and ice. A loud snarl echoed behind her. She took a quick glance behind her to see the massive wolf demon chasing behind them still. It was the size of a large house and had jet black fur. She looked to the sides to make sure her team mates were still behind her. Himiko went crashing into a tree in front of them, hitting it with a sickening thud. Her long brown hair was strewn around her face as she laid unconscious on the ground._

_Their sensei skidded to a stop and quickly turned around. "Rayne! Kaede! Grab Himiko and get her out of here." He ran towards the wolf demon to try and hold it off, trying to allow his young students to escape._

_Kaede dashed over to Himiko and Rayne followed him. They both grabbed one of her arms and put it around their necks while dragging her to her feet. She let out a small moan as she regained consciousness. They three of them kept running ahead while their sensei tried to hold the demon back. _

_Rayne still didn't understand what had caused it to attack in the first place. Their mission was to escort someone back to their village and back, not to deal with this monster. They had completed their mission and while heading back that thing had come out of nowhere. The wolf came charging at them through the forest and Rayne barely avoided it's first attack. It was normally a rather peaceful demon, according to the town people but something had enraged it, sending it into a blind fury. _

_It let out a loud snarl and then the team heard their sensei let out a pained yell. The three genin quickly turned around to see him thrown back from the wolf. Blood seeped out of a large gash in his chest. _

_"Sensei!" called Himiko in a panic. She was terrified. They all were. _

_"Run, get away from here!" he called to his students as he struggled to his feet._

_Kaede looked back at Himiko and Rayne, then back to his sensei. He looked back to Rayne again. "Rayne take Himiko and get out of here. Send word to the village once your safe." he said shakily. He ducked out from beneath Himiko's arm and ran up to the wolf that was now slowly closing in on his sensei. Kaede had always had a thing for Rayne and she knew it. He figured now was his chance to protect her. Maybe if he could hold the monster off long enough for his sensei to recover they could stop it. He wanted everyone else to be okay, even if it meant sacrificing his own life. Something he wasn't even sure he would be able to do. _

_"Kaede, no! Get back here!" Himiko screamed after him, when she realized what he was doing. She tried to run after him but Rayne grabbed her and pulled her away. Himiko was a lot stronger than Rayne, her fighting advantage being her extraordinary strength, where as Rayne's was her speed, and it took Rayne a few moments to actually pull her away. _

_"No Himiko, I'll get him. Keep going!" replied Rayne sternly as she shoved Himiko away from the fight. She then took off after Kaede, who was now close the demon. Kaede reached into his side pocket removing a shurikan from it. He threw the shurikan at the wolf but it quickly deflected it with its tail. It turned it's head quickly and snarled at the young boy, flashing its razor sharp teeth. It backed away from their sensei and stepped towards Kaede. His eyes widened and he took a few steps back before turning around and sprinting back the way he came. Rayne skidded to a stop as well but stood where she was. The demon caught up to him before he even had a chance and swiped its massive paw at him. It's sharp claws ripped at his back and he went sprawling._

_He landed face-first into the snow and heard Himiko scream his name again. His back burned where the wolf's claws tore open skin. He quickly turned over onto his back anyways and tried to get up but froze as he saw the wolf towering over him. It's teeth were bared and Kaede could only watch as it transformed it's tail into a large spear. All of a sudden he regretted going after the wolf. How could I have been so stupid? he thought to himself. He was now terrified to die. He threw his arms up in front of him and closed his eyes as he waited for the demon to kill him. _

_He heard it's tail strike though his skin but didn't feel any pain. He assumed he was in shock. Something warm splattered against his face. Himiko let out a terrible scream. He didn't want to open his eyes to see what had happened to him. He waiting for the pain and for the end. He didn't need to see what horrible thing had happened to his body when he died._

_"Hey douche bag, I thought I told you to always think before you jumped into a fight." He heard Rayne say quietly. His eyes sprung open to see her standing in front of him, with her back facing him. Part of the demon's tale had gone completely through her and was only inches away from his face. It was dripping with blood._

_"R-Rayne?" Slowly he began to register what happened. _

_She had just saved his life. _

_She had jumped in front of him at the last second. _

_Somehow she had stopped it's tail from hitting him._

_She had just sacrificed herself to save him._

_He heard his sensei call her name. He brought his hands up in front of his face to see his arms were covered in blood, her blood. He looked up at her in horror. She turned her head around and smiled at him. Bright blood ran down the corners of her mouth. "Don't just stand there, run Baka"_

_He realized then that she was going to die._

_The demon pulled its tail out, spraying blood on the white snow as it returned it's tale to normal. Rayne collapsed to the ground and Kaede felt strong arms wrap around him and pull him up. Tears filled up in his eyes as he was pulled away from her body. A think pool of dark blood was spreading around Rayne, his Rayne. The girl he had fallen in love with, even at such an early age. She was the girl he had sworn to protect. "No!" he cried out. It wasn't supposed to have ended like this, he thought to himself. He was going to save her, he should have been the one to sacrifice himself, not her. _

_"It's too late for her!" yelled his sensei in his ear as he continued to pull him away. Kaede didn't want to believe it. _

_Rayne was laying dead on the ground._

_~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~_

Well, I hope you enjoyed it and it didn't find it too cliche. There might be a few things off with grammar and spelling but that is only because I tried so hard to get this up for all of you. Let me know what you think, even if its something bad. I'll try to post again soon.  
>~Reiko<p> 


	12. Chapter 11

So yeah... It's been, well it's been a long time since I updated last, and for that I am very sorry. I don't like to make excuses but please understand I am very busy. I just started working at a new job so I'm super busy all the time because I'm going to school and then going to work after school and working every weekend morning at like 5am and then I'm really tired and still have to write essays and do math homework and fight my physics homework and... and I'm rambling. Anyways... Here's chapter 11, sorry it took so long to get it to you.

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Chapter 11

"You were killed?"

"Yeah, blead out right there on the ground. It was pretty fast seeing as half of my chest was ripped out."

"What happened? How are you still here?" He felt like he was finally getting somewhere with her. She was begining to open up and he was starting to uncover the mystery that had been bothering him since the first night they met.

"Well right after I died, my brother just shows up out of nowhere." She explained harshly. "He somehow manages to save the rest of my team and defeat this demon. Soon as he defeats him, he does this sealing jutsu and seals the beast to me, bringing me back to life. It healed most of my injuries, leaving this big ugly scar here. Somehow something in the sealing went wrong though. There shouldn't have been any side affects, but instead I get sick like I did earlier today. All of this is that bastard's fault." she said as she clenched her fist. Her hands were shaking slightly with rage.

"Why do you sound so angry about this though? Your brother saved you." _She can't really be suicidal all the time can she_ the Kazekage thought? If she was, he had yet to notice anything that would really suggest that.

"Oh I'll tell you why. That son of a bitch brother of mine was planning this all along!" she shouted before realizing that Temari and Kankuro might be trying to sleep.

"What do you mean?"

"He shows up only seconds after I am killed. He defeats the demon in only a few minutes, like he knows exactlly what he is doing even though he just arrived. Then, out of nowhere he pulls out a forbidden sealing jutsu. They don't teach you stuff like _that _in the academy" She had began to talk with her hands now, something she was aware that she did when she was mad. "He was the one who pissed off the wolf as well, he was planning this for a while. By placing the demon in me I would no longer be able to get in his way and it would give him more power after he saved that village and defeated a demon on his own. He knew the demon would have killed me, my whole team even. I was lucky I was the first to be killed and none of the others had to be. What kind of older brother kills off his own little sister?"

_The same kind of man who would try to kill his own son" _thought Gaara. He knew what she was feeling, but he didn't know what to say. What was there to say to comfort someone in her situation? After a few moments of quiet he quietly it looked like she had calmed down. "Do you ever hear the demon talking? Does it speak to you?"

She smirked then. "Yeah, all the time actually. Did Shukaku ever?"

"Yeah, not all the time, but yes. It was always... unpleasent. I can't imagine what it's like having it talk to you all the time."

"It's not like that with us. Madarou- the demon- and I get along. Like I said, he wasn't normally violent and destructive. I mean we didn't get along at first. I don't know if you know what it feels like to wake up and suddenly have a pissed of wolf yelling in your head, it can be quite terrifying. Plus, he wasn't too happy to suddenly be trapt in the body of a 12 year old girl, but we get along pretty well now. Never keeps his mouth shut actually and he acts like my fricken mom sometimes."

"What happened after you had the demon sealed into you?"

She took a deep sigh and shook her head. "No, not now. I'm tired and I need to go to bed."

There she went, shutting him out again. "Wait Rayne-"

She suddenly looked very shocked and sagged against the wall and she grimaced as she clutched her chest.

"Are you alright?" he asked alarmed.

"Fine" she groaned. "I just need to-" she gasped and sunk to the floor. "I just need to lie down."

Gaara was unable to sense her chakra so he couldn't really tell if she was lying or not. As probable as it was he didn't want to take a chance. He gently scooped her up and placed her back down on the couch. She turned away from him and burried her face into the couch cushions "It's alright. We'll talk later. It probably is best if you rest. I'll see you in the morning." He quietly returned to his room to go over what he had just learned.

_"You were faking an illness to get out of talking?"_ laughed Madarou

_"So what if I was, it worked didn't it?"_

_"I suppose it did, though I still don't understand why you told him any of that stuff in the first place."_

_"He's done a lot of stuff for us so far, I figured we owed him a little explanation. Plus, he figured out about you on his own. Don't worry, I don't plan on telling him much more. He could just be waiting for the right information before turning me in, like if anyone helped me escape or helped get me out of the village."_

_"Alright Rayne"_

She turned over and stared out the window. The stars were shinning brightly and there was almost a full moon. Despite her comfortable position on the sofa, she soon became restless. Visions of the night she died flashed in her head everytime she closed her eyes, the look an Kaede's face, covered in her blood and Himiko's tear that streaked down her face. The snow on the ground dyed red from splashes of crimson blood, the snarl on Madarou's enraged face. She shivered and pulled the blanket up over her face. The thick blanket usually provided her with warmth but tonight it was almost as if it wasn't there and she was back out in the snowy clearing where she fought to her death. She sighed angrily and jumped off the couch, her feet landed on the plush carpeting, muffling the sound. She crept through the kitchen and into the long hallway that led to the rest of the bedrooms. She looked carefully down the end to make sure Gaara's door was shut before reaching out and grabbing a cold doornob in her hand. The nob twisted silently in her hand and she pushed gently on the door letting herself into the room. She closed the door behind her with a soft click. Because of her improved vision, she was easily able to see in the dark. The oldest of the sand sibling brothers layed sprawled out on his king bed and was snoring softly.

"Hey, Kankuro" she whispered. The shinobi stopped his snoring and lifted his head off the pillow. He looked over at the door and smiled.

"I was wondering if you were coming back tonight.." He rolled over to the side of the bed taking his pillow with him. "Come on over" He patted the side of the bed and Rayne smirked before climbing into bed with him. Kankuro turned over to lay on his side with his back facing her. She layed down next to him facing the opposite direction with her back lightly touching his. She pulled up the covers and snuggled into them. This wasn't the first time she had done this, to be honest this had become normal occurance for the two of them. She could still remember the first night she came into his room over two months ago.

_Rayne lay tossing and turning on the couch in the living room. She had broken out in a cold sweat and was mumbling to herself in her sleep. She woke with a start as she came crashing to the floor, startling herself. She looked around, hoping no one had heard her. Goosebumps covered her skin and she was freezing cold in the warm house. She pulled herself back onto the couch but remained sitting. The kunoichi had been dreaming about prison again, although "nightmare" would have been more appropriate than "dream". The thought of being chained up, alone in that cold dark cell scared the hell out of her. She fell over onto the couch with an annoyed moan. Trying to fall back asleep, she closed her eyes but the images still flashed through her mind. She sat up again and burried her face in her hands. With a sigh, Rayne got up from the couch and began to pace around the room. Her feet didn't make any noise as she walked over the carpet. From down the hall a toilet flushed, based on where the sound came from she assumed Kankuro was still awake. She silently walked through the kitchen, shivering as her feet touched the cold, wood flooring. Continuing down the hall, she approached the door leading to his room. She pressed her ear against the door, listening for signs he was awake. He could be heard settling back into bed so Rayne knocked on the door lightly. The kunoichi let herself in suprising the younge man in the room. Apparently Kankuro had not been fully awake when he had gotten up and now he was very confused._

_"Rayne? What are you doing here?" He whiped his face with his hands trying to wake up. "Is everything alright?"_

_Rayne hesitated for a moment, "Uhh yeah, everything is alright I just can't sleep."_

_"I'm not really sure there's much I can do for you. Would you like me to get you something or...?"_

_"Can I stay with you, just for tonight?" she asked quickly, catching Kankuro off gaurd._

_"What?" he asked simply_

_"I just want to stay in here tonight. It's just way to cold in the living room."_

_Kankuro hesitated for a moment. Sure, Rayne seemed nice and all, yet they still didn't know much about her. Every shinobi was vulnerble when they slept so this could easily be a trap. Before he could reply she spoke again._

_"Wow, that was sort of stupid to ask. I mean we just met like two weeks ago. Just forget I asked." She turned to leave._

_"Wait, Rayne. It's fine." He moved over on the bed, now feeling sorry for her. "You can stay. I promise to stay on my side" he grinned._

_"You sure?"_

_"Yeah It's fine" Rayne walked over and slipped into the opposite side of the bed, staying as far away from Kankuro as possible. Neither of them completely trusted the other. Rayne, with her abilitly to tell what was going on around her while sleeping, closed her eyes. She pulled up the blankets to cover her. His body heat was still trapped underneath them, making the bed pleseantly warm. She used her arm as a pillow and was soon, to her suprise, fast asleep._

_Kankuro however, did not fall asleep as easily. He sat there listening to her breathing, trying to figure out if she was really asleep. He assumed she had no reason to want him dead. It seemed the only thing she wanted was to get out of the village, but what if she saw him being in the way of that. He didn't see any weapons on her when she came in but he didn't think that it didn't mean she didn't have any. It would also be way to obvious if she killed him here. Gaara would know it was her and would hunt her down. She would never get away with it. Suddenly, she shifted positions and her back now pressed against his arm. Kankuro quickly moved away and turned over, propping himself up on his elbow. Rayne was still asleep. It was one of the first time he had seen her relaxed and completely calm since she got here. He layed back down on his back and closed his eyes. For some reason he wasn't all that worried about her killing him that night. He too, soon fell asleep_

_Rayne had woken up early the next morning and silently slipped out of the room, careful not to wake Kankuro._

Kankuro had grown accostome to having her come in to his room now. Over the past few months he had grown to think of her as almost a younger sister. Both of them now laid on their backs looking up at the ceiling. He turned over onto his stomache and looked over at her.

"Everything alright?"

She continued to look up at the ceiling for a moment then glanced at him for a moment, looking rather troubled. She stared at him for a few seconds then her face relaxed and she looked back up at the ceiling. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

"You sure? You look a little troubled."

"No, I'm fine. I just get caught up in my own thoughts sometimes and I really just can't get to sleep."

"That seems to happen a lot then, since your in here almost every other night" he teased.

Rayne grinned. "It's not that often Kankuro and most of the time I'm just lonely" she laughed. "I was just away from people for a long time before coming here, so it's nice to just fall asleep knowing someone is right there. Plus, its warmer in here than in the living room."

"Oh I get it, you're just using me." he joked, making Rayne grin again.

"Yes, thats it. I just use you for your warm bed."

"I see how it is." he yawned. He closed his eyes again. Rayne looked over at him for a moment. A little of his purple face paint was still smeared on the side of his face. His dark brown hair was already a mess. She smiled to herself, thankful for his company. He got the feeling he was being watched and cracked one eye open to look at her. "What?" he asked.

Rayne smirked then rolled over onto her side, now facing away from him. "Thanks Kankuro, for everything."

"Sure thing." he replied sleepily with both his eyes closed again. Both of the shinobi soon fell asleep.

Rayne woke up early the next morning still a little tired. She was almost always tired though, seeing as the only nights she ever slept at all were the nights she fell asleep in Kankuro's room or the rare occasion she fell asleep early while everyone was still in the living room. She quietly got out of bed, careful not to wake Kankuro. She silently left the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Whenever she stayed in his room, she always left before he woke up. As she left the room, Gaara was leaving his own, catching her walking out of Kankuro's room. There was a brief awkward moment where the two of them just stared. Gaara looked like he was about to say something then turned around and left.

A few hours later everyone was up and out of the house. Temari off for another meeting, Gaara in his offiice and Rayne and Kankuro were heading to meet him to recieve their next mission. It was a slow morning, neither Kankuro or Rayne were morning people. The two of them decided that to avoid trouble that they would meet Hitoshi and Akio at the office instead of heading there together. Rayne and Akio would have fought the entire way there. The meeting was short and they were out of the office quickly. Rayne was very thankful becuase she had felt a little awkward around the Kazekage, since running into him while leaving Kankuro's room that morning. She had caught him looking at her quiet a few times during the meeting. She was relieved to finally be back at the house and packing.

"Rayne! Are you ready to go?" came Kankuro's voice from the other side of the bathroom door. Rayne was just finishing up her shower.

"Uhhh, not exactly. I need like five more minutes and then I'll be ready" She replied, sticking her head out of the shower to hear him better.

"Hurry up!" he shouted back, sounding slightly annoyed.

"What's the rush? Do you have a date tonight or something" she laughed.

"Rayne, you heard Gaara. This mission is going to take all day and I don't want to be running back here late at night. I want to get going as soon as we can."

"Well go on without me and make sure those two idiots are prepared and I'll meet up with you at the gate." she said stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her. She quickly turned off the water and immediately shivered, already missing the warmth of the water.

"Fine, just hurry. Please."

"Yeah, yeah. Just go." Rayne quickly wrung out her hair and pulled on her clothing. She stepped out of the bathroom, mostly ready, a few minutes later. After spending another few minutes hunting down all her gear, she was ready to go. She walked over to the window in the living room and unlatched it. She quickly looked down before jumping out and taking off runnning accross the roof. She made her way down to the ground and began weaving throught the streets. She stuck to back alleys and rooftops to get there as fast as she could while avoiding people. She was so focused on getting to the meeting point on time that she failed to notice a familure chakra that was close by. She turned down one street quickly just as another man turned the corner at the other end. She quickly stopped as she recognized the man with the spikey black haired pulled into a ponytail. He was dressed in his black, wearing his green jounin vest just like the last time she saw him. His hands were in his pockets and he was walking calmly down the street. He stopped when he noticed her and a surprised looked spread on his face.

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Alright hopefully that was a little worth the wait (probably not but yeah...) The next chapter will be updated really soon. This time I mean it. Also there is a great present for all you readers in the next chapter so check for the next update, which will be really soon. Like always, thanks for reading. Please review :)


	13. Chapter 12

Suprise! Your gift is two chapters in one night. I know not a great gift but still. I'm gonna shut up so you can read this. Enjoy! (Also insert usual disclaimer)

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Chapter 12

"Shikamaru?" she whispered. Before he could move Rayne quickly pulled out a kunai, threw it at the leaf ninja and bolted. The kunai flew at the unprepared ninja and he moved just in time. The blade lighly sliced the side of his face bringing him back to focus. He took off running after Rayne.

Rayne quickly jumped up onto the nearest roof, not looking behind her. She vaulted over a wall and lept onto another roof.

_"What is he doing here!"_

_"How would I know Rayne? Just run!"_

She jumped down from one rooftop to another, rolling as she hit the ground, then quickly jumped up and continued running. She heard Shikamaru call her name from behind her, ordering her to stop. She ignored him and kept running, sliding under or jumping over anything that got in her way. She kept running until she hit the edge of the roof she was on. The jump to the other side was too far and she cursed herself for not noticing earlier. She glanced behind her. Shikamaru was catching up fast. She took one look over the edge the backed up a little. The ground wasn't too far below, so she would at least try to jump. She took a running start and went to jump. Right before she acctually jumped she felt wire wrap arround her legs, sending her off the roof and crashing onto the ground. She cursed as she hit the ground and smashed into some crates and trash bins. She landed hard on her side, bruising her shoulder and back. The crate had broken, scraping up her knees and forearms as she struggled to free herself. Shikamaru jumped down in front of her as she freed herself from the wire. Rayne qucikly got up and was about to turn to run when she froze. She tried to move but was unable to. She glanced down to a shadow connecting hers to the leaf-shinobi's. She swore again as she realized she had been caught in Shikamaru's shadow possession. Shikamaru stood up straight and Rayne felt her own body move without her control as she mimicked him.

"Rayne?"

"Shikamaru"

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Just answer the question Rayne" he sighed. "I'm here on a mission and don't have time to be messing around."

"I came here a little while after I escaped. I'm staying here with... well, some friends of mine." she answered truthfully. There was no use lying to him.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but was silent for a moment. Both ninjas stood there watching each other for a few moments. Rayne could only stand there as blood dripped down her legs and hands. A few drops fell and splashed to the ground.

"So," she asked harshly,"are you going to turn me in?"

Shikamaru's hard gaze softened and he sighed. "How troublesome" he mumbled under his breath. Rayne smirked a little bit. He had always felt a little sorry for the girl and had, despite all the trouble she has caused for him, grown to like her quite a bit. "Listen Rayne, it wasn't my mission to come look for you. I have business with the Kazekage. I'll let you go just this once. Once, Rayne. I like you but not enough that I would risk getting in huge trouble for helping you. I hope you understand."

Rayne couldn't move to nodd her head. "Yeah, I get it. Thanks." She felt relieved but the fact that she had gotten caught so easily worried her. Maybe her time living in the Sand Village had made her weak. Maybe it was time to move on. Shikamaru realeased his jutsu and Rayne fell to her knees, causing more damage to them, which she didn't seem to notice. She sat down and leaned against the wall of the alley.

Shikamaru placed a cigarett in his mouth and lit it with his silver lighter. He took a deep drag from it. "I'm really sorry Rayne."

"I know, its fine. I completely understand. It's your job and you have to do it. For the sake of the village, blah blah, Will of Fire. All the bull shit." She smiled a little as the familiar scent of cigarettes hit her.

"Yeah something like that." smiled Shikamaru. He turned to leave then suddenly stopped. "Oh and Rayne, Royce is still looking for you."

She quickly looked up at him, suprised. "That idiot. I thought they told him I was dead?"

"We did. He refuses to believe it." he said, sticking his hands back in his pockets.

Rayne laughed. "What an idiot. He's going to get in trouble trying to find me. I guess I would do the same if it was the other way around." She let out a deep sigh. "Did you know, the two of you smoke the same cigarretts? I can tell by the smell."

"I never noticed." He turned around and began to walk away. "Well, I hope I don't see you around." he said, then left.

Rayne sat there for a while breathing in the lingering smell of the cigarrette. She winced as she stretched out her legs, noticing the blood that was now smeared on her legs. A few splinters stuck into her leg and she quickly picked them out. Cursing, Rayne dug through her bag looking for bandages. She quickly wrapped her bleeding knees before getting up. With a small limp that was disapearing quickly, she headed out of the alley way.

_"Are you going to be alright?" _questioned Madarou.

_"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" _she replied as she licked a trail of blood off her forearm. She had ran out of bandages so she did the same to her other arm before heading back up to the roofs. Remembering she was suppose to be meeting her team and was now very late, she swore and took off running again.

"Damn it! Where the hell is she?"

"Akio, shut up. She'll be here in a few minutes." growled Kankuro.

The three shinobi on her team were all waiting by the village gate for Rayne. She had told Kankuro that she would need five minutes. He wondered how five minutes could turn into 20. He was about to say something else about Rayne being late when the Kunoichi came leaping down off a nearby roof and panted out an apology. He was rather concerned when he saw the bandages around her knees and the fresh blood on her arm. Rayne seemed to notice the blood on her arm as well and quickly licked it off.

"What the hell happened Rayne?" asked Akio, very worried.

She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "What do you mean kid?" Over the last few months Akio had started to act differently around her. Although he still argued with Rayne, it had become more of teasing. He no longer hated her like he had once did. He had even become a little protective of her and it was making her feel a little uncomfortable. He had been the one who hated girls because of the way they acted and now he was treating her like one of the helpless females he hated. She blamed it on the fact that she had saved his life, maybe he was just trying to return the favor.

"What do I mean? Look at you. You're a mess. It looks like you got into a fight."

"Oh this" she laughed. The others stared at her for an answer for a few seconds but she showed no signs of answering.

"Well? What happened" Said Akio.

"Well you see, I was running late this morning. So I'm hurrying accross the rooftops trying to get here when I slipped and fell right of the roof. I got a little scraped up when I fell. Then I lost track of where I was and was so late because I was momentarily lost. I still have a hard time finding my way around this damn city. It's too big."

"Bullshit. Like you would just slip off a roof. Your much too coordinated to do that." Rayne looked at him weird, suprised by the sudden compliment. Akio turned red in the face and turned away after mumbling something even Rayne wasn't able to catch. She looked up at Kankuro. "So, are we going to get going or what?"

"Yeah, let's go" he said motioning for the others to move. Akio and Hitoshi walked on ahead and started talking about something that happened to some of the other sand genin the day before. Rayne began to follow behind them but Kankuro reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She winced and became a little pissed as his hand squeezed her injured shoulder but she didn't let him see that.

"Hold on a second Rayne" He waited a few moments before Akio and Hitoshi were out of earshot then he began walking after them with Rayne at his side. "Mind telling me what happened?"

"Didn't you hear me telling Akio? I fell of a roof on my way here." she replied trying to sound relaxed.

He didn't believe that for a second. Akio was right, Rayne was a bit to graceful to just slip and fall off of a roof. Something must have happened for her to have gotten those injuries. "Yeah but what really happened?" he asked

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Listen, it was nothing. I just ran into an old...acquaintance of mine. I took care of it and thats all there is to it. I really did fall off a roof though. That bastard tripped me" she huffed, crossing her arms.

"What the hell do you mean you 'took care of it'? Rayne please don't tell me you killed someone" he said almost sounding angry and he was, one condition to her staying here was to obey the rules and not cause problems. If she had killed this man...

"No he's fine" She answered quickly with a wave of her hand. "He looks much better than me, I only put a scratch on his face. There was no real fighting, just talking. Like I said don't worry about it."

Kankuro gave her an unsure glance. "You sure?"

The Kunoichi nodded. "Yes, everything is fine. Now lets focus on the mission. Weren't you the one who said you wanted to get home as soon as possible?"

"I'll take another drink" called Rayne to the bartender.

He pudgy man walked over to her with a bottle. "Aren't you a little too young to be drinking miss?" he asked suspicously, withholding the drink.

Rayne glarred at him. "That's irrelevant."

"Were not suppose to serve alcohol to anyone underage." said the man.

"That didn't stop you before." She couldn't help but wrinkle her sensitive nose at how much the man reaked of sweat and bad cigarrets.

"Thats true but this is your second bottle of sake. I don't want you causing any trouble miss so-"

"Oh just shut the hell up and give me the damn drink. I'm paying double the price to get that." she growled. A few of the other people seated at the bar shot her strange looks but she ignored them. It was getting late now but she didn't care. Her and her team had gotten back from their mission about two hours ago. It had been another success, as expected. She had gone to the Kazekage's tower to pick up her reward money and now planned to spend all of it on drinks. It wasn't like she needed it for anything else. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari woldn't let her pay for anything she really needed anyways. She poured a glass, downed it and set the glass back down on the counter. She really should be getting home but she didn't want to chance running into Shikamaru at the house. She was about to pay for her drinks and leave when she noticed Akio and Hitoshi walk in. They glanced around the room and she tried to hide, but with her red hair she was easily spotted. The two boys walk over to where she was and sat down to the side of her.

"Hey Rayne, what are you doing here" asks Akio as he eyes the empty bottle in front of her and the whole bottle in her hand.

"Oh nothing much, just trying to avoid going home. I thought I'd come here and spend a little bit of that money we earned today." she smirked, sloshing the sake around in its bottle.

"Sounds... fun" said Akio. Rayne wasn't looking too good but he didn't want to be the one to try to stop her from drinking. He had just got there and could tell she was a little off. The boys placed their orders for food and the three of them sat at the bar conversing. Rayne was being rather quiet and most of the time she just sat and listened as the two boys talked. In the time Akio and Hitoshi had taken to eat their food, Rayne had managed to sneak in a few more drinks. She figured she deserved them. She had a lot on her mind right now and needed something to help her relax or she would end up going crazy. What had happened with Shikamaru today had really get her thinking. She now found her questioning what she was even doing in the sand village. Sure it offered her a great place to hid but how long did she plan on staying there? She had things to do and didn't want to spend the rest of her life hiding out here. She slammed her glass down after another drink and dropped her head onto the counter. Akio and Hitoshi both looked at her and Akio even laughed.

"You alright Rayne? I'm thinking you had a little too much to drink" he grinned, taking a big risk. The bar tender sent a cautious look over to their spot at the counter. He didn't want them causing any trouble in his bar.

"Im thinking you should shut the hell up" she growled. Akio just laughed again. She didn't seem too angry.

"We should probably get going guys" he said as he hoped off his stool. "Our parents are going to start to worry if we are out too late."

"I don't have parents".

"Oh geeze Rayne, I didn't know. I'm sorry. Are you all by yourself then?" he said feeling embaressed. Rayne never talked about her family so how was he supposed to know?

She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "Don't worry about it. I'm staying with a few friends of mine."

She sighed in annoyance as he grabbed her arm and pulled at her. "Let's go Rayne"

The kunoichi slammed her money down on the counter of the bar and followed the boys out of the bar swaying just slightly. The bartender let out a sigh and quickly retrieved the money while others in the bar watched them leave before returning to their drinks. They stepped out of the bar and Rayne's skin broke out in goosebumps. She crossed her arms trying to protect herself from the cool night temperatures.

"We'll walk you home Rayne." offered Akio

"No, its better if I walk you guys home. I need to walk for a bit. If I come home drunk I'll be in trouble."

"But its late and it's-"

"If you try to tell me it's not safe because I am a girl I will shove your foot up your ass. You know I'll be fine, so lets get walking to your house."

"Of course I wasn't going to say that. I was just going to say... it's going to take a lot of walking for you to get better. Your completely drunk right now."

Rayne swung at him and punched him in the upper arm hard enough to probably bruise it. He yelped and rubbed his arm with a grin on his face. "You hit like a girl." She swung again but he just jumped out of the way laughing. Lucky for him she was rather tipsy and her aim wasn't the best. Him and Hitoshi both stood close to her as they began to head off towards his house incase she slipped, which judging by the way she was swaying, was very possible.

Rayne yawned. She was getting tired now and her eyes were feeling heavy, which confused her. She was fine a moment ago. She followed after Akio and Hitoshi, not paying attention to where she was going. They were getting farther and farther into parts of the city she as unfamiliar with and she was hopelessly loss. She would have been better off if she had been paying attention but she was feeling a little dizzy and it felt better to just keep her head down. It didn't matter if she would have to spend hours wandering through the city trying to find her way back. She wasn't thinking that far ahead. She was drunk. She knew it and didn't care. Shikamaru and the rest of the leaf village were far from her mind and that was all that mattered.

Akio and Hitoshi quickly reached for Rayne as she started to stumble forward. They quickly caught her before she could fall which woke her up a little.

"I'm fine, I swear" she laughed, sounding slurred.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you are Rayne" said Akio before letting her go. "Come on Rayne, we still have a while to go before we get to my house so you need to stay awake" he laughed.

She laughed again. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

Hitoshi just rolled his eyes. Akio knew his mother wouldn't be happy if he brought her to his house like this but he couldn't let her go home like this. It would be a horrible first impression but there wasn't an option. So they kept walking, or in Rayne's case, stumbling. This time, Akio was more than ready to catch her. He walked and front of her and as soon as she stumbled he crouched down so she landed on his back. He quickly grabbed her legs before she realized what happend. He stood up and began to walk again with her now on his back.

"Hey what the hell?" she gasped. "Put me down you punk!" Rayne punched him in the shoulder and tried to free himself but Akio wouldn't let go.

"Calm down!" he laughed. "This is just me repaying you from the one time you had to cary me."

"It is not! I can walk by myself. Hitoshi make him let me go!"

"Sorry Rayne, Akio's right."

"You traitor!" whinned the drunken girl.

Hitoshi laughed softly while they continued walking. Rayne gave up fighting quickly and let her arms drop over Akio's shoulders. She let out a sigh of defeat and rested her head on the boy's shoulder. It wasn't so bad, she decided. She was tired and it sure as hell beat walking. Within a few minutes the motion of Akio walking had put her to sleep.

_"Rayne? Hey, Rayne!" A girl giggled and Rayne struggled to lift her head off Akio's shoulder. "You are always so lazy. Come on, you need to wake up"_

_Rayne knew that voice, how could she ever forget it? "Himiko?" But that didn't make sense. Himiko and Kaede were both back in the Leaf Village where they were safe from her. She was here with Akio and Hitoshi know. She was in the Sand Village... wasn't she? She opened her eyes slowly. She was still in the Sand Village and she was still being carried by Akio. _

_But Himiko was there. She was following along side her and the boys but neither of them seemed to notice. _

_"Oh good your awake." she smiled. "We need to hurry."_

_Rayne tried to ask her why but no words would come out of her mouth._

_"Rayne, are you even listening to me? Pay attention!" _

_Rayne couldn't help but laugh. It was without a doubt Himiko. There she was always ordering them around like she was her mother. She always was the responsible one. Himiko was always watching out for her and Kaede. The two of them got into so much trouble. She grinned thinking about all the times Himiko had chased after them, yelling the entire time. _

_"Rayne! This is no time to be laughing! Would could be funny about this?" she said accusingly. Something must have been wrong by the look on her face. Rayne couldn't help but wonder if something had happened to Kaede. She once again tried to ask but words wouldn't come out._

_Himiko glanced behind them, getting progressivly more terrified._

_"Come on! Rayne we don't have time to mess around! It'll get us if we wait much longer." _

_The Kunoichi tried to look behind them to see what it was that had her friend so scarred but she couldn't move her body. They kept moving forward and she still felt the swaying motion of Akio walking. _

_"Please!" Himiko was sounding frantic. "That thing is going to get us, please! That wolf is going to kill us if we don't move!"_

_Wolf? Rayne found herself even more confused. What wolf? Madarou? They had already defeated him so how could that be? She wanted to tell Himiko that, to let her know that there was nothing to be afraid of. There was no wolf and they were clearly in the sand-_

_Suddenly the sceanery started to blur. The dry dessert with its beige walls and sandy buildings started to disapear. Large trees and a snow covered ground replaced it. It only stayed like that for a few minutes before quickly changing back. Then the area around them started to change, flashing between both scenes. Areas of misplaced forest appeared in the city and swirling sand changed over into blinding snow in others. _

_"Oh God! Kaede, Run!" Himiko screamed. Rayne was quickly filled with deep feeling of dread and she was now afaid for her friends' lives._

_A man screamed out in pain._

Rayne was jolted awake as Akio suddenly stopped moving. Her heart was racing and she was breathing way to hard. She realized she had only been dreaming. Her short nap had cleared her head a little bit and she was more aware of her surroundings. Akio and Hitoshi had failed to notice her startled awakening. She quickly looked around to see what had caught their attention enough to make them stop.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Hitoshi.

"Hear wha-" Rayne tried to ask but she was quickly shushed by Akio. He let her drop down to the ground and stand by herself. The three genin all stood around watching and listening, for what, Rayne didn't know. They waited a few seconds then they heard it, Rayne better than the two boys.

A man screamed again.

Rayne realized that the scream she heard had not been just in her dream.

"That way" she said pointing in the direction of the noise, and then all three of them took off running.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Poop, I typed up a really nice closing note all upside down like but I couldn't copy and paste it into here because well, it was upside down and this doesn't support that format... anyways it went something like this. Hooray for a new chapter right? Also I learned to type upside down! Neat right? But yeah, thanks always for taking time to read the garbage my mind makes up and my hands help it type up. Please review okay? And I promise to try, key word being try, to update soon. I think I have gotten over my writers block for now so it should be good. And I would quickly like to thank my twin for the lucky Taillow foot she gave me that I wear around my neck when writing. It has once again saved me from writers block.  
>~Reiko<p> 


	14. Chapter 13

I'm back! Sorry it had literally been forever since I last updated. Like I said though, I am back and won't be going anywhere at least until this story is finished. Hope you enjoy the long awaited chapter 13

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Chapter 13

There was more screaming as the three of them got closer.

"We need to hurry guys" called Akio, who was for once leading the group. The night wind ruffled his blond hair, cooling the sweat that was forming on his forehead.

Rayne was now starting to regret all the sake she had drank as she followed in the rear of the group. She was running headfirst into danger and would probably have to fight and she was in no state to do so. Her mind felt fuzzy and her limbs felt heavy. She was still dizzy and her fingers felt clumsy as they gripped her weapon. It was probably only the adrenaline that was allowing her to even be moving as it is, that and Madarou who had decided to make himself available. After her second glass of Sake he had disappeared into some dark recess of her mind to hide. She probably wouldn't have woken up until the next night if it wasn't for him. After another shout they all put forth a little more effort to get there faster and within another minute they found themselves running through another alley way. Rayne reached out and grabbed Akio by the collar of his jacket before he could run out from behind cover. He stopped suddenly as he accidentally choked himself. He grabbed his throat and turned to her glaring. He remained silent as he saw she had one finger held to her lips.

"Hold it kid," she whispered. "We don't know what's going on out there. Always look first." She looked around for a second then turned and ran up the wall to her right, making her way to the rooftop. Akio and Hitoshi quickly joined her and crawled over to the edge of the roof with her. Rayne looked down in surprise and Akio soon saw why.

"What the heck is that?" gasped Akio. Below them three shinobi lay almost defeated in the street. A strange woman loomed over them. With a earsplitting shriek she flew at them, her long red hair floating around her head. She raised two giant clawed hands and slashed at the one man on the ground. He barely dodged it, rolling out of the way making her miss by a few inches. Whatever the thing was that was attacking them let out another loud shriek and dove at the man again. He was able to get out a kunai and block her next attack just in time.

Rayne and her team watched from the roof as the demon continued to attack the men that were on the ground below. The man who was still moving had finally managed to get back onto his feet and was barely dodging the oncoming attacks. As she was watching Rayne noticed that the three men were very familiar. Even though one of the three lay face down she recognized the others. _Aww fuck. No way in hell! _She swore to herself as she realized that the shinobi down below were the exact same ones that had had beat the crap out of her a few months ago.

"We have to help them" whispered Akio. Rayne looked to her right where he was laying and saw that Hiroshi was nodding in agreement next to him.

"No way" she hissed.

"Rayne! Those guys are sand shinobi, our comrades. Plus we have to protect the village!" he whispered. He knew she wasn't one to back down from a fight so her behavior confused him.

"Fine, we'll let them die then kill that thing. Then it can't terrorize the rest of the village. We'll say they were dead when we got here." she said turning her eyes back to the fight.

Akio glared at her. "What's your problem? Since when are you scared of a fight?"

"I'm _not_ scarred. I just refuse to help pieces of shit like those guys." she said rolling her eyes.

"How do you even know them? What'd they ever do to you?"

"I'm not wasting time explaining it. Let's just say they don't exactly make the best welcoming party."

Akio just continued to stare at her. "I don't believe this. You're really going to let these people die over something stupid?"

_They would have beaten me to death if the Kazekage hadn't stepped in. That's not something stupid. "_They're a bunch of worthless drunks, so yeah."

"Look who's talking Rayne. You could barely walk a little while ago." Rayne paid no attention to him and kept her eyes on the fight. "Fine, I'll do this by myself" he said and began to push himself up of the rooftop. Hitoshi began to do the same.

"No you're not" said Rayne, grabbing his arm and pulling him back down before he could even get up. "You'll just get your ass kicked if you go down there by yourself. Those guys are chunin. What's a single gennin like you going to do? I don't need you getting yourself killed tonight."

"Then come with me!" he pleaded.

Rayne growled again, the alcohol only making things worse. Akio and Hitoshi couldn't go down there and fight that thing, whatever it was. If there was any chance in stopping it she had to go down there and fight it herself, and even that might not be enough, probably wasn't. Rayne felt her free hand drift down to the sword at her waist. The man on the ground was suddenly thrown across the street where her crashed into a shop front. Akio began to pull his hand a little but Rayne wouldn't let go. The demon woman below crept forward to the man on the ground.

Down on the ground the chunin glanced frantically at his other team members. He couldn't help wondering how it had ended up like this. They were only meant to go on patrols that night. He was supposed to be done in a few hours and he had planned to return to bars with his team for a drink or two before they closed. He tried to think of his next move but his mind was growing foggy. His hand that was grasping at his side came away bloody from the claw marks that now marked it. The demon now grew closer. A twisted, fanged grin stretched across its face. _How could something like this sneak into the village?! _As it now stood in front of him he realized that there was no escaping the next attack. He tried to stand but his legs just wouldn't move. His arms lay limply at his sides and all he could do was stare at the demon in front of him. It reached its large clawed hands to strike and he closed his eyes. He couldn't help but wish that he and his team had gone to the bar instead of patrolling that night as he waited for the last attack. It never came...

There was a clang of mettle and a loud shriek. He opened his eyes and the first think he thought was, _by the gods, there are two of them; _above him stood another female with the same red-brown hair. Two odd looking swords were clutched in her hands, holding back the demon's attacks. With a swift kick she sent the demon stumbling backwards. The girl in front of him quickly glanced back at him before running forward to fight the demon. He realized it wasn't another demon, but a girl; the same thief that they had caught a few months ago. He now could feel a large amount of chakra coming off the girl who before he mistook for an ordinary thief and now wondered if he was even more trouble than before.

Rayne watched the demon raised one claw up, ready to deal the final blow. She was aware of Akio calling out her name one last time but before he could even finish it. He suddenly felt the pressure disappear from his wrist as she performed a body flicker technique, vanishing. Rayne landed right in front of the defeated chunin swords barely drawn in time to deflect the attack. The demon standing in front of here was wearing a tattered black kimono. From a distance she may have looked human but up close there was no mistaking it. The monster had grey leathery skin and rows of sharp pointed teeth that grinned at her. Its dark snake-like eyes starred down at her making her skin crawl. There was an unmistakable odor of raw, rancid meat, mixed with other less subtle smells.

The Kunoichi heard the man behind her gasp but paid no attention to him as she kicked at the surprised demon's stomach. Her foot connected hard and sent the woman stumbling backwards. She quickly glanced at the chunin behind her to make sure he was still alive before running off towards her opponent. She stopped just in front of the woman and pressed the ends of the swords together. She summoned up a little chakra to combine them into the large sword staff she used and gave it a quick spin before dropping into a fighting stance.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" called the man from behind her.

Rayne just grinned after hearing the fear in his voice. He was scared of her now. _Good. _She then became aware of Akio and Hitoshi dropping down from the building they were stationed on and running over to where they were.

The chunin also saw them jump down and quickly called to them. "No! Stay back. It's not safe here! You need to go get help." He couldn't let the young gennin of his village get killed here. Between the demon and the new girl that showed up the fight had gotten a lot more serious then he thought possible. Hitoshi knelt down beside the man and Akio stood on the other side of him with a few shuriken in hand.

"Don't worry Sensei" said Akio. "We are the help. My team will take over from here."

"You better be fucking grateful for these two. If it was up to me I would have let you die" said Rayne bitterly.

"You're with her?" asked the chunin. He stood shocked. Since when was the thief girl a sand village shinobi? "You kids need to get out of here. That thing is no match for you gennin."

A cocky grin rose up on Akio's face. "You obviously haven't seen our team then old man. We're not just kids." The man just looked at him confused, firmly believing that the monster would kill all of them. "I got this from here Rayne, stay back and guard him and the others with Hitoshi." commanded Akio.

Rayne just laughed at him. "No way in hell kid. This thing," she said gesturing with her staff at the demon in front of her "will tear you apart. You two stay there and guard."

"Rayne!" cried Akio in outrage. "I'm leader of the team! I say it's my turn so let me fight this one!"

"What? Since when have you been leader?"

"Since always!"

"Listen here kid-"

"Stop calling me kid!" he shouted back to her.

Their argument only seemed to cause the chunin to panic more. _They are only kids! They have no idea what they are getting themselves into! They're going to get us all killed!_

"Until you're older than me, I'm in charge of this team. Now shut up watch my back you brat! Hitoshi see what you can do for the others alright?" Rayne was still trying to act a lot more confident than she was. The childish arguing with Akio seemed to help a little but she was still scared, something she would never admit. The thing standing in front of her was a beast. She wasn't even sure she could match it in a fight, let alone kill it. She could tell that Hitoshi was starting to panic a little at the sight of all the blood and that didn't help matters. "Hitoshi?" The young brunette just stared down, his face hidden in his shaggy bangs.

"Hitoshi!" He finally looked up her, his eyes full of fear. "Hitoshi I need you to listen to me! You n-" she was cut off as the demon lunged at her. Apparently it had grown tired of waiting for her. It snarled as she quickly dodged its attacks. _Shit this thing is fast! _she thought. "Listen to me Hitoshi! I need to know if you can do this."

"Rayne, I-I don't know"

"Can you heal them?" She yelled as she dogged back and forth trying to evade the creature's monstrous claws.

"Come on you can do it!" Akio yelled encouragingly.

Hitoshi looked around, panicked. There were three men down. They all needed help, help that if they didn't get would cause them to die. All the stress was getting to him. He couldn't do it. He felt sick to his stomach and thought he would pass out. "Rayne, I can't. I can't do it..."

"Fine then stay the fuck out of the way!" She shouted, not entirely meaning to sound angry. Frustrated would have been better. They all needed to work together and that wasn't going to happen if Hitoshi couldn't do his job. Rayne stuck out at the demon in front of her but it caught the shaft of her spear. It quickly yanked it, throwing it and Rayne out of her way. Rayne rolled as she hit the ground and quickly hopped back up and charged at the thing now rushing towards her team mates.

"Back off you bitch" growled the kunoichi. She performed another body flicker and blocked its attack again. She pushed the creature back once more. "Hitoshi if you can't help these guys you need to go get someone who will. I want you and Akio to move these guys to a safe spot and then run and get Kankuro and let him know what's going on. Can you do that? Akio you stay and guard these guys, got it?" Hitoshi nodded slowly then Akio helped him up. He was shaking badly still. Once Rayne was sure they were fine she charged back at her enemy.

"Don't worry I got you" said Akio as he began dragging one of other chunin over to the first one. He gently set him down, the man letting out a pained groan. Hitoshi pulled the other one over a few moments later. "You should go now Hitoshi. Rayne's going to need all the help she can get." Hitoshi looked at him nervously then gave a quick "okay" before running off. Akio took a defensive stance in front of the older shinobi now in his care and watched as his team mate now took on the monster by herself.

"Your friend doesn't have a chance kid" wheezed the only conscious man.

"You don't know Rayne." Akio answered solemnly. He wouldn't admit he was worried to hell about her.

"You really think the girl has a chance? Kid, we've fought her before. I'm not proud of it but we did, she went down so easily it could hardly been called a fight."

Akio assumed that had been the reason behind her hatred of the men. "I don't know what happened in that fight but I'm telling you, if any of us got this it's her. She's the best fighter on our team." The man behind him still didn't seem to believe him and Akio tried to remind himself that it didn't matter. He would just have to wait and see when the fight was over. He remained where he was and could only watch as Rayne dodged around the monster.

Rayne found that she was out of breath way too soon. She was getting dizzy and found that she was barely dodging its attacks. Her face stung as one of its long claws clipped her on the jaw. She flipped back a few times, barely landing, to get some space between the two of them. She stood panting while the monster in front of her looked completely fine. She growled then charged back at it. It deflected all of her swings, her razor sharp blades bouncing harmlessly off its giant hands. Rayne spun around disconnected her staff and stabbed the blades behind her. They connected with its chest but never even penetrated the skin. Rayne swore and quickly spun back around, reconnecting the blades. She slashed again but the monster was faster. It caught the staff in one giant hand and yanked it free of Rayne's grip. It tossed it aside like it was a twig and swung at Rayne. She dropped on her back in a last chance effort to avoid it. She landed hard, forcing the air out of her lungs. She rolled to her side and tried to get up. She felt an iron hard grip close around her chest, pinning her arms to her side. Akio, panicking, called out her name. The demon pulled her close to her face where its stench was worse. She struggled in its grasp but it wouldn't give. With a flick of the demon's arm, Rayne was sent flying. She wasn't even aware she was airborne before she was sent smashing through the front display window of a shop.

"Rayne!" called Akio as he heard her scream. "Rayne! Are you alright!?" She had to be alright. She was going to storm out of that shop any second, pissed as hell, bloody but alright. She had to because if she didn't, if she wasn't okay, he was alone. _Hitoshi, hurry up! _He waited for Rayne to come out but he couldn't see any movement. The demon woman stalked towards the shop window. _Probably to finish Rayne off_ he couldn't help but think. Without much of a thought of what he was doing he pulled the shurikan back out of his pocket.

"Hey, hey you!" he called. The woman, having forgotten about him for the time being, turned around and hissed. "Yeah you! Come get me you ugly bitch!" He threw the shurikan at it. It quickly knocked it aside and took a few steps towards him.

"Kid! What are you doing! You're going to get us killed" whispered the man behind him.

"Stay here, I got this... I think"

"You think!?"

"We'll just have to see." Akio took off running down the side of the street, drawing the demon away from the shop window and the injured man. His heart was pounding hard in his chest, not because of the work but because of fear. The monster woman behind him was quickly catching up to him and he didn't know how much longer he could outrun it. He pulled out a kunai as he ran. It swung at him again, only just missing. He could feel its claws pass just centimeters away from the back of his neck. His stumbled and went sprawling. He quickly tried to climb away but he felt the demon's hold clammy hand wrap around his ankle and hoist him into the air. Luckily he had managed to keep his grip on his kunai. He swung back and forth for a moment before stabbing his blade into the things armpit. Warm, black blood ran down his hand as he twisted the knife, finally finding a weak spot on it. The demon shrieked and Akio shrieked with it as a crushing force was applied to his leg. He felt something snap in his leg and was then dropped to the ground.

Rayne had only been out for a few moments, just long enough for Akio to worry and go out and try to fight the demon on his own. It had been the demon's scream that had woken her up. She quickly bolted upright and then yelled out in pain. She noticed all the broken glass that lay around her and looked down to see her hands bleeding and embedded with tiny shards of glass. She could feel the blood running down her upper back, telling her that her back was in the same shape. Lucky for her the leather undershirt she had worn for protection did its job. Her wrists were similarly spared by the thick leather bracelets she wore to hide her scars. Her upper arms weren't protected and also bleed freely because of the tiny shards. She winced as she tried to move. Akio's own scream cut through the room and she realized he was still out there in danger. She tried to ignore the pain and stood up using only her legs, which, because she landed on her back, were mostly unharmed. She took a few shaky steps then climbed out the window, carefully avoiding the giant spikes of glass still left.

The first thing she saw was Akio lying on the ground curled up and clutching his leg. The demon flailed in front of him wildly, showering the ground with small black drops of blood. Rayne saw the Kunai sticking out from under its arm and smiled. She couldn't help be proud of Akio. She fumbled through one of her bags attached to her waist and pulled out a smoke bomb. Akio was hurt and she knew she needed to get him out of there. She attached the smoke bomb to a kunai and flung it towards them. It went off and the demon and Akio were soon enveloped in smoke. She dashed forwards and while they were blinding, crouched down next to Akio. She grabbed one of his arms and pulled it across her shoulders and pulled him up. She yelped in pain as his weight dug the shards of glass deeper into her skin but pulled him up anyways.

"Rayne?" coughed Akio. The smoke made it hard to see or breath. "Rayne are you okay?"

"Come on" she urged dragging him along and ignoring his questions. She growled with each step but soon enough they were out of the cloud of smoke. They were both collapsed to the ground as soon as they were out. They both laid there panting, unable to move anymore. The demon shrieked in the cloud, confused and trying to find its way out. They rest didn't last long and the smoke soon began to dissipate.

"Come on Akio, can you stand?"

"Rayne? Rayne you're bleeding!" he said sounding terrified. Visions of his old team flashed through his mind. He couldn't lose Rayne like that too.

"Akio I'm fine, you need to try to get up though." she panted as she lay next to him.

"But-but all the blood..."

"Focus kid, come on! I need you to get up!"

He tried to push himself up but cried out as blinding pain shot up his leg and through his body. "I can't. I think it's broken." he whimpered

The demon shriek after it spotted them. It lowered itself into a crouch and let out another shriek before charging at them. With neither of them being able to get up, Rayne did the only thing she could think of doing. She flipped over and moved her body over Akio's trying to shield him. But before the monster could get any closer a strong wind blew, spinning sand through the air. A covered her head and waited for the wind to die down. In its place stood a pale and shaking Hitoshi with the help he was supposed to bring. Not only did he get Kankuro like he was asked to but standing with them was one very concerned looking Kazekage. His dark red hair blew wildly around his face in the sandstorm he created.

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Well there you go! Hope you enjoyed and please review

~Reiko


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14, hope you enjoy :)

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"Are you two okay?" asked the Kazekage, who now stood in front of them facing the demon. The swirling sand that had whipped at his hair now died down.

Rayne rolled off Akio with a pained groan that she tried very hard to hide. "I'm fine, but Akio's hurt" she lied. She knew she was hurt as well and wouldn't be getting up by herself anytime soon. She was just too stubborn to admit she had lost.

Gaara spared a glance behind him to see the two gennin and was worried by the amount of blood he saw covering Rayne's arms. Akio also seemed to be in serious pain. He knew he needed to finish the fight quickly. "I'll take care of this, Kankuro. Do what you can to help the others."

Kankuro nodded and crouched down besides Akio. He lifted the injured boy off the ground and hurried him over to the other injured chunin. Hitoshi followed behind him, continuously glancing behind him as if to make sure Rayne was still there.

"I'll help you out in a minute. I just need a few second to catch my breath I swear" panted Rayne. A small smirk crossed the Kazekage's face. He still found her stubbornness to be rather amusing even in situations like this.

"You've done enough; I can take it from here." He popped the cork out of his gourd and it bounced to the ground behind him.

"Oh well if you insist. I know what you're doing though. You just want all the glory from this. The brave Kazekage saves his dear beloved village from a scary demon. It's fine, I totally get it." she said barely managing to smile. The Kazekage looked back at her with a smirk on his face and she couldn't help but grin, even though it hurt. Sand began to trickle out of his opened gourd. She felt it shift around her and she was suddenly lifted off the ground. The motion made her horribly nauseous but she held back the urge to throw up. The sand set her down softly next to Akio and Hitoshi, a good distance away from the fight.

"Rayne, are you okay? What happened to you?" asked Hitoshi. His face was just as pale as it had been when he had left, if not worse.

"Damn thing threw me through a window. We'll talk about what you missed later. Right now we have to help these guys." she said with disgust.

"Rayne, I told you I can't..." he began to protest.

"Hey, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was just... stressed I guess. And maybe a little scared. But don't tell anyone that, especially Akio." she said looking over at the now unconscious boy. "I didn't mean what I said earlier."

"I know but I... I just can't. I'm too scared. W-with my last team..." he stared down at his hands which he now nervously wrung in his lap.

"I know what happened. Akio told me. That wasn't your fault. You did everything you could and I understand you're scared but you have to get over it. We need you Hitoshi. Akio, Kankuro and I are counting on you, and so are the chunin. I personally couldn't give a shit if they lived or died but you know, you have to do what's right or whatever. You've got to at least try and save them."

The boy didn't look up at her. He was shaking slightly and a few small tears dropped down in his lap. "Rayne, I-I'm s-sorry b-but I can't."

Rayne struggled into a sitting position, which made her feel lightheaded. Hitoshi's head snapped up. His eyes widened as he saw her sway unsteadily. He reached out and grabbed her arms to make sure she didn't fall over.

"Rayne! You're hurt. You need to lie down. Please!" he begged. She instead just pushed his hands off.

She pulled a kunai out from its container on her leg and held it in her hand. "I want you to try something. Look at my hand. Don't focus on anything else around you." She held out her other hand, palm up, in front of Hitoshi. "Can you do this?" Hitoshi nodded and whipped the tears from his eyes. "Alright then..." She took the Kunai and pressed it into the skin of her opened hand, just lightly slicing the skin.

"What are you doing?" asked the boy alarmed. His eyes were wide under his brown shaggy bangs.

"Heal it" she stated plainly.

"I can't!" he answered quickly. "I told you I can't do it."

"Just focus on my hand and nothing else. Look, it's barely even bleeding. It's just a scratch and it's not life threatening. I'm not going to die if you can't heal it so there is no pressure at all. I just want you to concentrate." She set the kunai down and grabbed his hand, placing it under her injured hand. Then she grabbed his other hand and held it over hers. "You can do it."

Hitoshi sat there and stared at her for a while. He tried to look over at Akio and the others but Rayne grabbed the top of his head and held it in place. The boy took one look at her tired face and knew he had to at least try for her. He took a few deep breaths before he finally moved his hand. He flexed his fingers and tried to steady his shaking hands. He then proceeded to stare at the bright red wound in her hand as the sound of Gaara's fight starting could be heard. He glanced up at the fight as the demon let out another ear piercing shriek. His team mate quickly called his name, bringing him back into focus. Blood continued to well up from the cut and slid down her wrist, catching in the leather bracelets she wore. After another few deep breaths he started to gather the chakra in his hand, like he had been taught. He closed his eyes and focused his chakra. At first nothing happened but then Rayne's sighed with relief. He opened his eyes and saw the glow of his mystic palm technique coming from his hand. He was so surprised that he almost lost his concentration. The green glow flickered and almost died before he regained his concentration. The slim cut slowly knit itself back together and then disappeared leaving only the line of fresh blood on her hand. He couldn't help but let out his own shaky sigh of relief.

"You just healed me." grinned Rayne. She whipped away the blood to show her flawless hand

"Yeah." he breathed out.

"Good, now do it again." she grimaced as she quickly cut another line into her palm, this one deeper than the first. She couldn't help but notice that her hands were shaking pretty badly now.

His eyes flicked up to hers in shock, but she looked determined. He looked down at the wound and concentrated. He felt the chakra come back much more easily than the first time. Within a few seconds the glowing green light was back. The young boy smiled as the skin was once again healed, leaving it completely unmarked. The kunoichi smiled at him then collapsed to the ground in front of him. Her kunai clattered to the ground.

"Rayne?! Rayne, what's wrong?!" he exclaimed.

"I'm okay," she said weakly. "I'm just tired and I think I've lost a little too much blood. You go try to help the others if you can. Just stay calm and start with the small stuff if you need to." He looked at her unsure. "Go" she said shooing him with her hand. "You did great, just keep it up." Hitoshi slowly got up, then after looking back at Rayne one more time, ran over to Kankuro and the injured chunin.

Once she saw Hitoshi over with Kankuro she let out a sigh of relief and turned her head to watch Gaara. The young Kazekage hadn't moved from where he was standing. He easily held off the demon with his sand, both blocking its attacks and forcing it back with his own simultaneously. She watched as he masterfully forced the demon to move. She realized with a grin that he was toying with it. A look of pure concentration was locked on his face but with her great vision she could make out the smallest traces of a smile on his lips.

Gaara sent a spike of sand shooting out at the demon, which it quickly dodged. It was barely noticeable but the demon was starting to slow down, getting a little sloppy in its movements. He continued chasing it around with his sand, only getting faster as the demon grew slower and slower. Suddenly the monster had stopped. A large amount of sand swam up its arm. It let out another of its shrieks and tried to pull away. Gaara's sand was stronger and it was unable to get away. Gaara stared at it with his cold eyes for a moment before he quickly clenched his fist. The sand contracted around the demon's arm, shattering it and spraying blood.

And that was when she stopped paying attention to the demon. She knew Gaara was going to win; there was no need to worry anymore. She now fixed her attention solely on the Kazekage. The determination and fierceness in his eyes made her heart beat a little faster. She found him brilliant to watch. _He's gorgeous_ she thought to herself, which only made her giggle. She didn't know what was so funny or why she had even thought that but it took everything she had to not burst out laughing.

She slowly felt herself drifting to sleep even though she heard the monster scream in pain as Gaara's sand crushed its other arm. Its other had been released and was now a completely useless shredded mess. She wanted to stay awake to watch the red head finish off the fight but her eyelids were growing heavy. She closed her eyes for a moment but quickly opened them again as a vision of the monsters bloody arm flashed into her mind. It wasn't so much that the blood and carnage bothered her; it was that she wanted to see more. As sick as it was, she enjoyed a good fight. But even as much as she enjoyed it, it was getting harder to keep her eyes open and she almost didn't open them the next few times. Eventually it got too much and right after Gaara cut the head off the demon she let her eyes drift close and didn't bother to open them again.

It didn't last long though. She soon found herself shaken awake. A very concerned Kazekage's face loomed over hers. His eyes were wide and his hair was a little damp with sweat. It took her a second to remember where she was and what was happening.

"What's up?" she asked sleepily. "We won right?"

She saw the Kazekage wrinkle his nose a little bit. "You're drunk, aren't you?" he asked obviously able to smell the alcohol on her breath.

"Only a lot" she couldn't help but giggle. He gave her a disapproving look which instantly stopped the giggles. His black rimmed eyes just looked so sad. "I'm sorry" she frowned.

"Let's just get you home." she felt his hands reach behind her neck and under her legs. She was soon lifted off the ground and into his arms. Her dark blood stained his white Kazekage robes.

"I'm sorry" she said trying to pull away from him. She tried to hide it but every movement made her wince. Her cuts just bleed more from the movement

"Just stop fidgeting or I will drop you." he said, tightening his grip on the squirming girl.

"What about the others?" she tried to pull away from him to see around her. The Kazekage held her tight though, restricting her movements.

"Everyone is fine. The medics got here and are working with Akio to heal everyone."

"Even those fuckers? They're okay?" Gaara nodded, knowing exactly who she was referring to.

"Damn" she sighed. "I hope you fuckers remember who saved your sorry asses! Don't you ever think of fucking with me again, you hear me?" she shouted. She was just able to make out the shocked look of the remaining conscious man as Gaara passed him. Satisfied she dropped her head back onto Gaara's shoulder and drifted back to sleep.

The Kazekage walked over to his brother and his students. Hitoshi's green glowing light was hovering over Akio's broken leg.

"Is she going to be okay Kazekage-sama?" asked Hitoshi. He stood up weakly, his legs shaking horribly. He wasn't use to using up this much chakra. Gaara just nodded.

"We need to take her home. Kankuro, we'll just take the rest of your team with us. We need to find out what exactly happened."

"You sure you want them all at our house Gaara?" replied the eldest of the brothers. His purple face paint was smeared slightly on his face. He had obviously been able to get some sleep between their mission and the incident they were currently dealing with.

"I think it will be alright just for the time being." Rayne stirred slightly in his arms but he didn't look down.

"But what about Akio? He's out cold and could use some more medical help"

"You will just have to carry him." smirked Gaara, walking past Kankuro with Rayne in his arms. "Your medic did a fine job. The boys can come over and we will take them back later."

Kankuro looked over at Gaara annoyed. "What?!" he called after him. "That's not fair. How come you get to carry Rayne? She weighs like nothing!" Kankuro looked down at his unconscious student then back to his brother who just kept walking. A swirl of sand formed around the red head, and then suddenly he and the girl were gone.

Kankuro looked down at his two male students. He swore to himself under his breath then crouched down and picked up Akio. He defiantly weighed more than Rayne. He groaned with annoyance. _ I fucking hate kids!_ he cursed to himself. The boy let out a tiny groan as Kankuro adjusted him but he but remained unconscious. "Let's get going then" he said. Hitoshi wearily got to his feet and followed his sensei back towards their house.

Rayne was woken again by the feel of cold tile. She cracked her eyes open, wincing at the bright lights. She squeezed her eyes shut again. The Kazekage removed his arms from around her, letting her lean against the toilet in the bathroom. They had somehow made it home and she now sat on the floor of Gaara's bathroom.

"Wh-whats going on?" she asked sleepily.

"Nothing," replied Gaara. "Just stay here for a while. I don't want you bleeding all over the house or getting sick while I go talk to the others. Temari's out with a friend so she won't be able to help you but I'll try to do what I can when I come back."

Rayne just nodded secretly relieved that Shikamaru and Temari were gone for the night. With the two of them out of the house she didn't have to worry about Shikamaru finding her any time soon. She opened her eyes when she heard the door click shut behind her, as Gaara left. Even though it hurt to move, Rayne managed to lie down, pressing her face into the cool tile on the floor and curled herself up. Her whole body hurt and her head pounded like crazy. Madarou remained hidden in the back of her mind trying to stay as far away from her body as possible. She wanted to sleep but knew that the bits of glass needed to come out of her skin before she did anything else.

As much as she wanted to remain lying on the floor she managed to pull herself back up into a sitting position, leaving a blood smear on the floor from where she was laying. She quickly examined herself. Luckily the leather undershirt she wore had protected most of her back from the glass, and her legs remained mostly unharmed. A few tiny pieces were buried and she quickly removed them. Her shoulders and arms however took most of the damage. She carefully stripped off everything but the leather undershirt and her shorts, throwing all of her gear to the side as well. Slowly she started to remove the bits of glass one by one.

A few minutes later the door opened again and Kankuro walked in.

"You're going to bleed to death if you keep this up" he smirked from behind her.

"It's just a scratch." she smirked as she pulled out another bit of glass, letting it drop to the floor. "Or two. How are the others?"

"Akio and Hitoshi are both asleep in the living room. A team of medics are coming to get Akio early in the morning but he will be fine. Hitoshi is exhausted. He fell asleep right at the table. He's fine though and will be good as new when he wakes up. I have to say I'm pretty proud of the two of you for getting him over his issue."

"Well I'm glad their okay."

"The shinobi you saved are even going to be okay"

"Yeah I don't give a damn about them" she replied rolling her eyes.

"Still, you guys did a good job tonight in saving those chunin and finding that demon. I wasn't supposed to say anything but for a while Gaara was a little worried that you might have been the demon that had been attacking the village. It's a big relief for him. I, of course, never had any fear it was you."

"I'm sure you didn't" laughed Rayne.

"You need a hand with that?" Kankuro asked as she continued to pick tiny bits of glass off her skin.

She continued working. "No, that's alright. I can finish up. Go to bed. You look tired."

"I look tired?" he laughed. "Have you looked at yourself?"

"I always look like this. There's no need to look in the mirror."

Kankuro laughed again. "Alright, if you say so. I guess I'll go to bed then. Goodnight Rayne."

"Mhm, night."

Kankuro exited the small bathroom leaving her alone once again. She carefully removed the leather undershirt she was wearing to get the tiny bits of debris out from it, leaving her in just the chest wrappings that all female shinobi wore. She heard the two sand brothers talking outside in the hallway. Then the door to the bedroom opened and the redhead walked in and opened the bathroom door. He stood with his arms across his chest looking down at her.

Rayne didn't turn around. "What happened to knocking before entering a bathroom?"

"How do you always manage to get yourself into these situations?"

"I'm just lucky."

"I bet". He crouched down on the ground beside her and inspected her bleeding shoulders. She flinched slightly as his cold hand touched her skin. "These are going to need stitches. You should go to the hospital and see a medic."

"I'm not going to the doctor. Why don't you just do it?"

"Because I'm not a medic and am not trained to do it. If you go to the hospital you won't even need to get stitches. They'll just heal it. I would mess it up."

"So what. Just do it. I trust you."

The Kazekage sighed and pulled out a medical kit that he kept under the sink. He shuffled through it until he found the needle and thread he was looking for. He quickly threaded it and looked over at her shoulders. He picked a spot and positioned the needle. "Do you trust me enough to tell me why you were in jail?" He stuck the needle in and began to start stitching.

She flinched. "How did you know?" she asked sourly.

"The scars on your wrist. They are from the shackles aren't they?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You never do."

"It's none of your business." she growled.

The two shinobi then continued to sit in an awkward silence, neither of them able to think of anything to say. The Kazekage continued to remove glass, clean out her cuts and stitch them up. He couldn't help but blush as his hand ran across her skin. Lucky for him she was facing the other direction. Which was also lucky for her so he couldn't see her blushing as well.

Gaara coughed awkwardly. "There's glass... under the bandages. You might want to get that out later." he said trying not to sound as uncomfortable as he felt.

She reached up and grabbed a towel off the counter above her. She held it in front of her with her teeth and fumbled with the end of the wrap. Seconds later the white fabric hung loosely around her waist. Gaara sat facing her bare back blushing much harder now. He reached out and gently brushed off tiny bits of glass that still lingered on her skin. The feel of his rough hands across her exposed skin caused her to shiver.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

Rayne could only nod her head in response. The tips of her pointed ears burned red with embarrassment. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself as he finished. When he was finally done she let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks... for helping me and everything..."

"Don't worry about it." he said standing back up. He carefully pulled his t-shirt over his head and handed it to her. "Here" he said as he picked up her torn and bloodied clothing.

She tried not to let any emotion show in her face as she turned to accept the shirt from him. She cursed herself for letting something like a little bit of exposed skin bother her, but it bothered her none the less. _Pull yourself together Rayne! You are not a 12 year old girl so stop acting like one!_ She cleared her throat and took the shirt from him. She carefully slipped the shirt over her head, cringing as the motion caused more pain to her injuries.

"I'll be right back" he said before walking out the door with her clothes in hand.

She scooted over a little and leaned against the counter, crossing her legs in front of her. "Fuck" she sighed. She was embarrassed at herself and pissed off for drinking too much and annoyed with her injuries. She dropped her head back and it smacked into the counter. "Fuck!" She grabbed at the back of her head, now even more annoyed. She bent over and touched her head to the floor while she rubbed the back of her head.

"What are you doing?" asked Gaara reappearing in the doorway.

Rayne just groaned.

"Are you okay?" he asked, unsure of what exactly she was doing.

"Fine" came her muffled reply.

"Well if you are okay then I'll leave you be. I'm going to bed then." he said. He turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait" Rayne called after him impulsively. She didn't want him to leave her by herself right now.

"What?" he asked as he stopped and only half turned around for her.

She picked her head up and sat up. She looked at him for a few seconds not sure what to say. She wasn't seriously thinking of asking him to stay was she? Of course not, that was just ridiculous she tried reasoning. She wasn't pathetic and she didn't need his help. "Sorry, never mind" she said, quickly looking away from him.

"Are you sure?"

But she wanted him to stay. She couldn't explain it but she didn't want him to leave right now. She stared in front of her.

"Rayne?"

She just shook her head. She didn't dare open her mouth in case another stupid thing came flying out. Wait? What kind of stupid request was that? She decided that she needed to go to bed. Now. She was being irrational and she needed to sleep before she did something stupid. But she wanted him to stay here...

Gaara gave her a puzzled look then turned away again. Before he could even take a few steps away Rayne made another odd noise and he turned back, raising a non-existing eyebrow to the girl who was looking at him.

"What?" she growled.

"You're the one behaving strangely. Is there something going on?"

"No." she was silent for a minute. "Can you just stay here for a few more minutes?" she sighed. She was no longer in control of her mouth. It was going against everything her brain reasoned. Apparently it didn't care. It had betrayed her logic for some weaker part of herself.

Gaara looked confused for a moment and Rayne's felt her ears grow hot in embarrassment. To her surprise he walked back in and sat down next to her.

"Is everything alright?" he asked. He was sitting close but at the same time it felt like he was keeping his distance, leaving a few safe inches between them.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just want someone to sit with for a little while."

"Do... do you need to talk or something?" he asked. She could tell he was feeling awkward as well. Talking wasn't his thing. It wasn't hers either.

"No, I just want to sit."

"Alright then..."

They sat side by side in an awkward silence for a long time. Gaara wished he could think of something, anything that he could say to break the silence. It was not like him to get this flustered over anything. But what could Rayne want? There had to be a reason for her calling him back in here. The silence continued. He wanted to turn his head and look over to see what she was doing but didn't want to risk her seeing him looking at her. What was this girl doing to him? He never would have behaved like this before.

He almost jumped as something landed on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head slightly and looked down to see that it was Rayne. He was alarmed for a moment until he realized that she was only sleeping. Asleep! He had been sitting there in silence, trying to think of something to say and she had fallen asleep on him.

He couldn't help but notice how small she looked wearing his shirt. The rise and fall of her chest was just noticeable under the baggy fabric. He quickly looked away again, afraid that she might not be asleep and would open her eyes and catch him looking at her. It took another few minutes of silence for him to finally be convinced that she was asleep. He didn't want to move now and disturb her, but what if she was mad when she woke up in the morning. She would blame him for not leaving after she fell asleep or something. She sighed contently in her sleep and that settled Gaara's mind for the moment. He would let her rest for a while. He couldn't be sure but it didn't seem like she got much sleep and after tonight she could use the rest. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. After a few minutes he too was asleep.

A few hours later Gaara was startled awake. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and who the girl who had moved her head to his lap was. He couldn't believe that he had fallen so deeply asleep on his own bathroom floor. He looked down at Rayne who still seemed to be fast asleep. His one arm was numb from where she had been sleeping against him but he didn't mind. He reached down with his free hand and it hovered a few inches above her scarred wrist. He was almost afraid to touch her. Right now she looked so small curled up on the bathroom floor in a shirt that was too big for her. She looked innocent and fragile. Her arms all covered in bandages and bruises. Someone like him with so much blood on his hands had no right to even touch her. He pulled his hand back. He let out a deep sigh and tried to fall back asleep.

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Alrighty then, hope you enjoyed and I hope to have the next chapter up before Christmas as a lovely gift for any one who enjoys reading my story. Please review

~Reiko


	16. Chapter 15

"Would you like anything to eat?" asked Gaara. He stood in the kitchen with his back to Rayne.

She just growled and then mumbled something he couldn't understand which wasn't surprising since she wouldn't lift her head off the table.

He almost missed the quiet, tired, and injured Rayne from last night. She was an entirely different person now. Cranky, hung over Rayne was scary. How can the girl that fell asleep in the bathroom last night be the same thing as the monster his brother dragged into the kitchen this morning? Gaara had left Rayne to sleep in early that morning. Kankuro had already been up, having taken the rest of his team home to their worried families early in the morning.

"I'll take that as a no then." He growled. "Fine then, if you don't need anything then I'm just going to go to work." Technically he didn't have to go to work but right now he just wanted to get out of the house. He wasn't sure what had come over him last night but just looking at her now almost made him blush with embarrassment. He had behaved very out of character last night.

Rayne sat back up with a groan and then shuffled back to his bedroom with his blanket dragging on the floor. It was loosely hanging off her shoulders. He scowled and walked away, leaving her alone in the house as he left for work.

She was woken up a few hours later by a tapping on the window. She jumped awake and immediately felt for the knife she kept under the pillow only to remember this wasn't her bed and there for it wasn't there. She slowly rolled over only to see Akio's smug grin staring at her from the other side of the bedroom window. She scowled and pulled herself out of bed.

"Aren't you supposed to keep off a broken leg?" she said grouchily as she opened the window and let him in. "And what's the problem with using the front door?"

"Are you kidding? You don't just knock on the front door of the Kazekage's house. Nice room by the way" he said checking the place out. His injured leg was wrapped in heavy bandages but that didn't seem to keep him from walking on it.

"It's not my room" she yawned. "It's Ga-" she stopped, catching herself. "It's the Kazekage's"

"Whaaaa-!" he shouted, jumping back on his good leg. "Why were you sleeping in his bed? What are you even doing in his room? He's going to kill us!"

"Calm down kid," she said sitting back down on the bed. "He knows I'm in here. So what's up?"

Akio looked around one more time then seemed to relax. "I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. And you know, say thanks for helping me and stuff" he said scratching the back of his head. He looked down at the carpet trying to hide the blush that was on his face.

"It's no problem" she replied pretending she didn't notice the redness of his face.

"So what are you doing in the Kazekage's room exactly?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"I don't have my own room so he just lets me stay here sometimes." She answered lying back down on the bed.

"So you really live with them? I can't believe that by staying with friends you meant the fucking Kazekage and his family! How do you know them?" he asked leaning on the windowsill now

"It's complicated."

"I've got time." He smiled

"It's personal" she growled.

Akio sighed. "That's what you always say. You have too many secrets Rayne. Every time we try to ask you anything about before we met you, you always avoid the question."

"Yeah, what's your point?" she frowned. She really did feel a little bad about it. She knew almost everything there was to know about these kids now and she hadn't been able to tell them a thing about her life. It wasn't like she had much of an option though.

"I just feel like we don't know you sometimes."

"Sorry kid" she said trying to convey that she really did feel bad about it.

"Eh, it's no big deal I guess. Well I just wanted to stop by to see if you were okay. I should probably get going. I have to get home before my old lady gets worried. You know how moms are sometimes. Oh I mean…" he blushed again remembering what she had said about not having parents anymore.

"It's no big deal" she said softly. "You better get back so she doesn't worry though. I'm glad you stopped by Akio. Make sure you get rest for that leg though. I don't want to be picking up your slack on the next mission." She gave him a quick smile.

He returned with a big boyish grin and she felt bad because she sometimes forgot how young he was.

"Alright Rayne, I'll let Hitoshi know you're doing alright. See you later." He waved before closing the window behind him and disappearing.

Rayne made a strange groaning noise and pulled her legs back up onto the bed. She pulled herself back up to the top of the bed and then buried her head under the blankets. She slowly crawled back under them and laid face down with her head down at the end of the bed and her feet sticking out on the pillows. She tried to fall asleep but it was hard with the tears that crept into her eyes as she couldn't help but think about what her life had been like when she was his age.

A few hours later Rayne woke up as the bedroom door opened.

"What are you doing?" came a questioning voice.

She was still lying upside down in the bed and all Gaara could see from the doorway was her toes.

"Sleeping" she moaned.

"Well come get some food, I made dinner."

"Alright, alright" she mumbled as she detangled herself from sheets that she was convinced were trying to kill her. She followed Gaara out of the room and into the kitchen. She only noticed two plates sitting out.

"Temari and Kankuro won't be joining us then?" she asked.

"No they won't be home till late."

_Great, it's just the two of us. How lovely_ she scowled. She sat down across the table from him and tried her best to avoid looking at him. Rayne only picked at her food as they sat there in one very uncomfortable silence. Gaara didn't say a word the entire time. He cleared his plate quickly and didn't bother to look up while he ate. When he finally finished eating he looked up to see her staring at him but before he could say anything she looked away. She looked up again to see him still looking at her. He was.

"Why don't I do the dishes?" she said getting up before he could say anything. She quickly turned the water on in the sink to create some sort of noise in the room. Gaara dropped his dish off over at the sink then exited into the living room.

_What the hell was that all about?_ asked Madarou.

_How should I know?_

_That had to have been one of the most awkward dinner situations I have ever had the misfortune to witness._

_Yeah you're telling me. I had to sit through it._

_How do you think I feel? That's my whole life now! Just sitting there watching as you go off and do stupid things._

"Oh shut up you stupid mutt." She growled.

"What?" Gaara called from the living room.

"I didn't say anything" she quickly called back.

She finished the dishes, taking as long as she possibly could then walked out into the living room. Gaara lounged at one end of the couch flipping through channels on the television aimlessly. Rayne sat down next to him and by next to him, I mean as far away from him as she could get while still sitting on the same piece of furniture. She stared blankly as the young man next to her continued to flip between channels. She shivered a little, the room feeling both cold and uncomfortable. What was going on with him today? She couldn't help wonder if she had accidently done something last night while drunk. Maybe he had been mad that she was so drunk. He really hated having to deal with her drunken actions, like that time she got kicked out of the bar a few months ago. He had been really ticked about that…

"You're cold?" he asked suddenly, making it almost seem like a statement more than a question.

"Wha? Oh yeah. It's no big deal. I'm always cold, well at least ever since I… died…" she said awkwardly. There was no normal way to phrase something that admitted that you had actually died for a while.

"Sorry"

"Don't worry about it. You know, it surprisingly wasn't that bad. It only hurt for like a few seconds and then all of a sudden you don't feel anything anymore."

"I know…" he said not taking his eyes off the television.

"Wait, what?" She said finally turning to look at him. He shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat.

"I'm not sure if you heard about it but I went missing for a while after a fight with Akatsuki's Deidara." Rayne nodded her head, knowing what he was referring too. "When they took Shukaku away from me I died. Elder Chiyo used a special jutsu to bring me back to life after Uzumaki Naruto got my body back from them. Only a few people actually know what happened."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea." She said shocked. Being brought to life after being that dead wasn't something that she was sure happened; in fact she had assumed she was the only one that something that crazy had happened too. That was just another thing she had in common with him.

Gaara simply shrugged his shoulders and went back to flipping through channels. Rayne sat quietly trying to think of something to say but really what could possible follow up a conversation about your own deaths.

Suddenly Gaara stopped flipping through channels, leaving it on some sort of crappy movie. "I've been thinking about something all day. I know you don't want to talk about it but I can't wait any longer Rayne."

She felt her stomach drop. She didn't like the direction this conversation was heading.

"Why were you in prison?" He finally looked away from the tv and focused his eyes on her."

"Look I told you I can't tell you." She said, growing uncomfortable with his eyes watching her like that. Maybe it was time she found somewhere new to hide. She didn't know how much longer she could avoid answering questions. She wasn't sure how much she even wanted to anymore. Her conversation with Akio today was more of a reminder. It was getting hard to live like that, always having to lie to these people that were trying to be her friends, who actually cared about her. Maybe it was better if she left. She was probably safer on her own anyways.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"I'm afraid to…" she said weakly.

"Afraid? Of what?" he asked.

"People, you…" the last part she said so softly that he almost didn't hear it. He seemed to recoil a second to what she said, like he was genuinely surprised.

And he was surprised. "Me?" he asked, sounding a little hurt. It's not like he wasn't used to be scared of but never had Rayne been afraid of him.

"How do I know you won't send me back as soon as I tell you everything? What if that's just what you are waiting for? What if once you figure out the whole truth you will decide that they were right in what they did to me? What if you know the truth and hate me?"

"You don't trust me"

"Why should I? Why wouldn't you turn me in? Kick me out? Send me back? Why would what happens to me mean anything to you?" she said sounding angry. He didn't have the right to be offended by her not trusting him.

"You really think I would do that to you?" he looked away. Maybe they weren't as close as he had thought. Just because she liked the rest of his family didn't mean she had to get along with him. "I'm a demon host too, or at least I was. I know how it is." In his head he was cursing himself for sounding so stupid. "You can trust me is all I'm saying. You haven't done anything wrong while here so I have no reason to send you back."

"I don't… I don't understand." She said looking down into her lap. Every part of her brain was telling her she couldn't trust him because of what had happened to her in the past. Yet she still found herself wanting to tell this man she barely knew everything about her history.

"Don't understand what?"

"Why should I trust you?!" she said, sounding more angry than she meant to. This guy caused her to be more confused than ever and that scared her. "How can I trust anyone? I have been betrayed by people I never thought would turn against me!"

"I was in the same position as you once." He answered softly.

She buried her face in her hands. She didn't want to admit it but he was right. He did know what she had been through better than anyone could ever understand. But she couldn't help but feel that if he knew the whole truth, knew what she really did, that he wouldn't think the same about here. Maybe he would think she was a monster just as ugly as the one he freed himself from.

Gaara tried to move a little closer to her, trying to get any information he could out of her.

"I…" she took a deep breath. "When people figured out what I was, a demon host, they locked me up. They were scared of what I might do. Or what other villages would think if they found out that the hidden leaf had another demon host." Rayne paused for a second waiting to hear Madarou commanding her to stop but there was nothing. She still felt him there but he was silent. "I wasn't able to control myself very well at first. My demon, as you could imagine was not very happy about his situation and he tried to take control a lot in the beginning. The elders didn't want another conflict for the village so they decided to make sure nothing ever got out about this. They just took me in the middle of the night…"

_It was just starting to get cold when she was walking back from eating out with her team. It was their sensei's idea to go out that night. It was the first time she had actually seen them since the accident and that dinner had been a little uncomfortable with her team giving her unsure glances the whole time, no one being able to make clear what the situation was. She was having such a hard time focusing that night with Madarou roaring in her ears the entire time. Things were finally starting to feel a little more normal as they started their walk home, now that they realized she was still herself and wasn't going to freak out and kill someone without notice. Sensei had decided to take the long way home that night. Out of nowhere they were suddenly surrounded by AMBU. She could remember them forcing her to the ground, catching her completely off guard. Himiko was absolutely frozen with fear, looking all around, not sure what to do. Kaede tried to run to help her but Sensei held him back the entire time no matter how hard he fought against them._

"_I'm sorry Rayne. Please try to understand" was the last thing she remembered him saying to her. _

_He had betrayed her and lured them all out here. Suddenly her anger overtook her and she felt her control slipping. She was scared and just wanted them to stop. Madarou's rage came bubbling up to the surface and everything around her seemed to get blurred out._

"I… I almost lost control but they knocked me out before anything could happen" she said shaking her head. "I could have hurt my friends; I could have killed them…" She looked over at Gaara but saw nothing but concern on his face. She decided it was okay to continue. "The first place they put me wasn't all that bad but I was young and I was scared and I wanted my parents and my friends so I escaped. I didn't get very far though but to be safe they had to put me in a higher security place. That's what the marks are from" she explained, without realizing it her hand moved down to trace the scars on her wrist. "I tried to escape constantly so they had to chain me up. I would get so mad that I would just let Madarou take control. No matter what I could never stay out of jail and every time I tried my treatment just got worse and worse. I was in pretty bad shape by the time I made my last escape."

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Sorry that chapter was a little short and boring. It's been way too long since I last updated. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up relatively soon so please don't be too mad about this crappy chapter... Please review  
>~Reiko<p> 


	17. Chapter 16

__That awkward moment when you post your newest chapter into your old story on accident...

Yeah sorry about that. I had this chapter up like a week ago and didn't realize I had uploaded it into the wrong story. I decided to investigate when I noticed all these people checking out my old story instead of this one and found out I'm an idiot. Well here you go, hope you enjoy and sorry again about the mix up.

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_Rayne was collapsed on the cold wet floor of her cell. Her bloody wrists still shackled together. She stared blankly watching water drip down into a puddle from the ceiling. Every part of her body hurt. Her last escape attempt didn't go to well. They had caught only a few minutes after she had escaped her cell. She wasn't known for going down without a fight though and this last escape earned her quite a beating. _I can't do this anymore_ she thought to herself. She curled up into a tight ball in the corner of her cell and started to cry. She just couldn't hold the angry tears back anymore. That was the last time she swore to herself. She really couldn't do it anymore. She was so tired of failing every time; and she was tired of being cold and hungry and sick; and she was tired of the beatings. A harsh coughing fit came over her and it used up the last of her strength. She didn't even have the energy to get herself up off the floor and onto the old cot that made up the sole furniture in her cell. She didn't know how long she had been on the floor, but since she had finally given up, time no longer seemed to matter. At one point there was a loud commotion outside. Before, she would have gotten up, maybe used that as a chance to get out, join the fight just to fight but not this time. She was done. Then she heard someone outside her cell. She closed her eyes and ignored it, not caring what it was. She didn't even move when she heard the metal door slide open._

"_Rayne?" called a rough but gentle sounding voice. She knew the voice but she didn't care enough to open her eyes. She reminded herself that she had given up and it didn't matter who it was. She was just going to go to sleep._

_But then that voice was calling again. "Rayne? You have to get up! You're getting out of here"_

_She was never getting out of here though. Whoever was telling her that was either lying or stupid. Didn't they know that she had already given up? Then they started shaking her. Why wouldn't they just fucking let her sleep?_

"_Princess, get up!" it commanded. She cracked her eyes open to see Yuuto. The huge man that was entering her cell was her only friend here. She _hated it_ when he called her Princess. He wouldn't stop calling her that no matter how many times she had asked. She was by far the youngest and smallest person in the jail and he always said that he looked after her because she reminded him of his own daughter; his princess. She wanted to go with him now but she couldn't. Too bad she had already decided to give up; guess he didn't get the memo on that one._

"_I can't" she heard her own dry, cracked voice say._

"_Then I guess I will just have to carry you."_

_Yuuto pulled out a ring of stolen keys and undid the shackles on her wrist. They fell to the floor with a heavy clang. Suddenly Rayne felt herself being picked up. His large muscular arms wrapped around her making her feel safe. And then they were out in the hallway and she had no idea how the two of them got there. There was yelling coming from everywhere. Yuuto was running and the shouting was falling behind them. Suddenly he stopped running and Rayne opened her eyes again._

"_What's wrong?" she asked. A little bit of her was finally coming back. Maybe it wasn't time to get up. What if she had been wrong?_

"_Dead end"_

_Or maybe she was right. She should have just stayed in her cell._

_And then she was on the ground again and Yuuto was holding her upright by her small bruised arms. "But not a dead end for you" he said sadly. Things were starting to focus a little more now. He held her head making her look at him. "Princess you have to listen to me." It was hard to focus but she cleared her head as best as she could and tried to stand on her own. If Yuuto had done all this for her she could at least give it one last shot. What more could they do to her? He walked over to the small bared window that was at the end of the hall. "These are two small for any of us to fit through but not for a princess." He pulled on the bars, his large muscles straining. With a clang, the grate barring the window popped free. A cool breeze blew in from the outside and hit her face. All of a sudden her determination was renewed. She could fit. And if she did the outside was right there, a few feet away. She was lifted up again._

"_Up you go" said the large man "Now listen here. You need to get out of here"_

"_What about you? I can't just leave you here!" She said, slowly but surely the fight was coming back to her._

_There were voices coming from down the hall now. "Yes you can, now go."_

_She hesitantly looked down the hallway then back towards the window. "Fine, but I am coming back for you. I won't leave you here to die!"_

"_NO! Rayne, I never want to see you here again. You have to listen to me. I want you to promise me that you will never set foot in this place again! Promise me!"_

"_But…"_

"_No! No but! You get out of here. If you can be free then that will be good enough for me."_

"_Yuuto…" The voices were louder now_

"_Go Princess, be safe" he said as he lifted her towards the window. She squeezed through just barely. She squirmed out and was able to turn around just to get one last look at her friend before guards swarmed the hall. _

"_Go!" he whispered as he turned around. _

_The last time she saw him he was being beaten down by the guards, a smile on his bloody lips because he knew that he had at least gotten her out._

"I almost got caught leaving the prison site." Rayne explained to Gaara. She hesitated for a moment and then figured that she had already told him enough and it wouldn't hurt to tell him the rest.

"Anyways I was able to outrun them and hide for a time. I ran for days after that. I had someone set up a hiding point for anything I might need if I escaped and that was the only stop I made. I eventually made it here, or at least just outside of the city when I just collapsed. I couldn't go any farther and that was when they finally caught up with me again. I was able to fight them off and I made it into the city. I lost them and hid up on that roof across from your house. I passed out for a while but when I woke up in the morning whoever was after me was gone. I lived up there for a week or two by stealing food and other supplies."

He nodded his head as he listened; his eyes asking her to continue.

"I was doing fine until those guards caught me that night. I was able to run away but I knew I had to hide somewhere soon because I could tell I was going to be sick again. Unfortunately that particular attack hit me hard. They caught up with me and I was too tired at that point to fight back or even care if I lived or died anymore. And that's when you showed up."

Gaara nodded his head trying to take in all of the information he had just received.

"You know, I had a family before this, and a pretty damn good life" She said sadly, surprising him by revealing even more of her history. "My older brother, the one who did this to me, turned my father against me. In the end he believed him over me and thought I was some sort of monster. The rest of the village was told that I died." She said shaking her head. "Dead. All of my friends think I am dead. Everyone who knew me before this thinks I'm dead. My mother couldn't handle it. She pretends that I never existed now. And I have a baby sister, who will probably never remember me because she was too little. And my brother… my brother…"

Gaara realized that maybe he had been wrong; maybe she did need more help than she let on. Rayne now looked like she was fighting back tears, unable to even finish her sentence.

Neither of them realized the movie that had been on was now over and the room had gotten darker. And at some point they had gotten closer to each other on the couch. No longer were they sitting on opposite sides.

Rayne felt herself shaking with both anger and grief. She could feel the tips of her ears burning with embarrassment. A few silent tears rolled down her face, only making her madder at herself for showing this kind of weakness in front of someone.

And then suddenly there was a warm hand on top of hers and Gaara didn't even know why he put it there. She looked up at him and his face got a little red. He quickly removed his hand. _What was I thinking!_ She had just looked so sad; he hadn't known what else to do.

"I'm sorry" he said. He moved to get up but Rayne lightly touched his leg.

"It's fine." She said. She quickly wiped her eyes. "Don't worry about it."

Then suddenly a crazy thought occurred to him. And for some crazy reason he acted on it. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips. He pulled away as his head started screaming at him for completely losing his mind.

"I'm so sorry…" he said completely surprised by his own actions. Rayne just started at him confused.

She took a deep breath. "Don't be" she said suddenly. She leaned in and kissed him back harder.

And then suddenly Gaara felt something overcome him. He kissed her back again, harder than she had kissed him. Suddenly they were going back in forth. He felt her tongue lick his bottom lip and even though he had never had any experience with this type of physical contact he opens his mouth almost out of instinct. He gave her a few seconds to explore before that instinct took over and he pushed his way into her mouth. She placed one hand on the back of his head trying to pull him closer. He gently placed his hand on the side of her face, his other hand gliding over her lower back.

Rayne laid back into the couch, pulling him down with her so he was now over top of her. The feeling of his warm body against her cold one caused her to shiver.

The two broke apart only when they needed to breath.

Gaara looked down at the girl below him. "Rayne…"

"Just shut up" she said, interrupting him. She started kissing him again. She didn't know what he thought this meant but right now this was a much needed distraction from the storm of thoughts that was going on inside her head and it gave her a chance to blow off some steam.

He trailed his hand slowly down her neck and down her arm. Rayne shivered again as he slid his warm, callused hand under her shirt and on to her toned stomach. She wrapped her arm around his neck, trying to pull herself closer. She had never experienced this kind of heat before. He slowly slid his hand higher and higher, exploring something completely new to him. Rayne felt her skin break out in goose bumps when his fingers brushed the bottom of her bra.

And then suddenly she pulled away. Gaara was suddenly pushed completely off of her with speed and strength that he sometimes forgot she possessed.

"Wha-?"

She sat up quickly and faced the television pretending to be watching it. Before Gaara had a second to think about what he had done wrong the door to the house opened and Kankuro walked into the living room. He looked surprised when he walked in and saw Gaara still looking disoriented, sprawled out at the end of the couch and Rayne clearly not watching the credits of a movie. He could tell from how red Gaara's face was that he had obviously interrupted something.

"Uh, hey guys. Sorry to interrupt you. Don't mind me, just going to bed." He said before quickly walking past the two of them and walking down the hall that led to the bedrooms.

Without a word Gaara quickly got up and walked towards his own room. The boys both closed the doors one after the other and the sound seemed to echo down the empty hallway as Rayne sat alone in the living room.

"Shit" she swore under her breath as she wondered what the fuck just happened.

Kankuro had just gotten undressed and crawled into bed when there was a knock on his door. He pulled his covers up as the door slowly opened.

"What's up?" he yawned as he felt someone sit down on the other side of the bed.

"I have no idea what the fuck just happened" said Rayne as she fell backwards onto the bed.

"What do you mean?" he asked turning onto his back. He put his hands behind his head.

"I don't want to talk about it…" said Rayne, flipping over and lying face down in the pillow.

"Come on" he laughed. "What did you do to my little brother?"

"Me?" she asked turning her head to talk to him "I didn't do anything, he started it."

"Started what?"

She made a strange groaning noise into the pillow. "I said I don't want to talk about it" she said; her voice muffled.

"Fine, fine, don't tell me then." He said turning back over. Usually when she said she didn't want to talk about something, she didn't talk about it. He turned back over onto his side and tried to fall asleep.

He had almost accomplished that when suddenly she said "I kissed your brother…"

He once again turned over. "I thought you didn't want to talk about it?" he smirked.

"Shut up" she growled. After a few moments of her glaring at him she continued. "Well he kissed me first but still. Either way it was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened and I was stupid. So stupid! And as soon as you left, he left and he probably thinks that it was stupid and I am stupid and he hates me and I'm stupid. This whole thing was stupid and I said stupid things and it was stupid and it should never have ever happened and he probably never wants to see me again and I never want to see him again because I am stupid and should just leave."

"Shit, Rayne, slow down!" he laughed. She had talked so fast and rambled so much that he had barely understood what she had said. "Look, I doubt that whatever happened was stupid."

"No! We are not doing this!" she said interrupting him

"Doing what?"

"This whole discussion thing. We are not doing it. It's stupid and we are not discussing what happened. You wanted to know what happened and I told you, end of story."

"You are so messed up" he laughed.

"Yeah well you're stupid" she said resorting to the most childlike response in existence.

"Whatever you say" he laughed, turning back over onto his side. He gave her a few seconds to fume silently before saying "you should probably just go talk to him."

"I'm no good at talking" she grumbled.

"Yeah well neither is he, which is all the more reason to go. Both of you could use the practice."

"There is nothing to discuss _Kankuro_." She replied sighing heavily

"Obviously there is _Rayne._" He turned over onto his back and folded his hands behind his head. "Now do I have to actually kick you out of here or will you just go talk to him already?"

She looked at him surprised for a moment, unsure of whether or not he was serious. "But I don't want to go talk to him. And I'm starting to not want to talk to you now."

He moved suddenly and shoved her out of the bed. "Just go talk to him you idiot" he laughed as she hit the floor.

She sat up completely shocked. She glared at him, not able to believe he had actually pushed her. "Why you little-"

"Start acting like an adult and go fix things with Gaara," he laughed, "then you can come back." He turned back over and pulled his blankets over his head, pretending to fall asleep.

She glared at him for a few more moments hoping that he could at least feel her angry gaze a little bit before she picked herself up off the floor. "You know, I don't think I even want to come back." She huffed before turning and walking out the door. She slammed it hard to make her point.

Kankuro just laid in bed with a grin. He couldn't help but wonder what was really going on between Rayne and Gaara.


	18. Chapter 17

I have no excuses for why it took me 3 million years to upload this next chapter. I suck. I know. So sorry, but please enjoy anyways :)

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Rayne slowly passed back and forth past the Kazekage's door. She didn't want to admit it but Kankuro was probably right. She really should talk to Gaara. But what was she supposed to say? What was there to say? So she began to mumble to herself, mostly remind herself that she was stupid and this whole thing was stupid and how Kankuro was stupid. Surprisingly Madarou gave very little input to this whole thing. She could feel him there simply observing the situation which only mad her more angry. He was stupid too.

"What? Mister I know everything finally doesn't have something to say for once?" she muttered under her breath.

"_Be quiet girl. I'm thinking" _was his only reply.

"You're thinking? Well think faster you stupid mutt! I have no idea what I'm doing right now." She muttered back.

Suddenly the door next to her swung open and a confused looking Kazekage was standing shirtless in the door way.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing…" she replied. Her ears burned with embarrassment again. "What are you doing?"

"I was trying to sleep but your excessive noise is keeping me awake. Who were you talking to?" he asked looking both ways down the hallway.

"No one. I wasn't talking to anyone." She quickly blurted out. _Great now he thinks I'm crazy! _She wanted to hit herself right now for acting so foolish. Either that or just disappear. She was acting like a complete idiot.

"Well was there something you needed Rayne?"

She was about to say no, call it a night and go lay on the couch feeling miserable until morning but Kankuro's nagging voice kept reminding her that she needed to talk to the young Kazekage. She sighed heavily. "I… I wanted to talk to you."

"About?" he asked. If he was feeling even the slightest bit awkward he was clearly not showing it. He just stood there watching her, seemingly uncaring.

Rayne sighed and crossed her arms. "Look can I just come in and talk to you?"

Gaara simply shrugged and backed out of the doorway, allowing her entrance. He closed the door behind her and motioned for her to sit on the bed. The covers had been turned back and it was obvious that he had been trying to sleep earlier. He took a seat in the chair by his desk.

After a few moments of painful silence Rayne finally worked up the courage to say something. "Look, I just wanted to say that I was sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have done that."

"It was my fault. I started it. I'm the one that should be sorry. It shouldn't have happened."

Rayne could only nod her head. For some reason it hurt a little when he said it shouldn't have happened. But she knew he was right. Even if she had feelings for him, which she didn't, nothing could ever happen between them. He was the Kazekage and she was a fugitive.

"Was that all you needed to talk about then?"

"Yeah I guess so." She got up off his bed and slowly walked to the door, almost hoping he had something else to say. But he didn't, so she walked out the door slowly closing it behind her. She stood there in the hallway for a few seconds before walking down the hallway and back to Kankuro's room. She opened the door slowly, not making a sound. She poked her head in only to find the older sand sibling sprawled out across the bed, snoring softly.

He looked so comfortable she figured it would be a shame to wake him. She closed the door and slipped down the hallway. As she sat down alone in the dark living room she felt a familiar empty feeling creeping over her. Talking with Gaara had unfortunately brought up memories from her past that she had rather not be thinking about. But whether or not she wanted to think about them she was. She couldn't stop the memories from surfacing and she did everything in her power to push them back down. The dark silence that filled the room almost made it seem harder to keep her mind off it. Normally when it got like this she would go to Kankuro and just being next to someone else seemed to help her but she knew she couldn't keep using him like that. Eventually she would have to leave. She knew she couldn't stay here forever. She had been used to just dealing with it but now that she found some way to make it better it was hard to not want to go to him.

Rayne sighed and laid back down. She bothered Kankuro enough these last few nights she figured she would just have to suffer through it till morning. She pulled her blanket over her head and tried to fall asleep.

It had to have been almost an hour later and it was just getting worse. She couldn't sleep and she was feeling so restless. She sighed heavily and sat up. She buried her head into her hands for a few minutes before deciding that if she wasn't going to bother Kankuro the least she could do was go out for a drink. Gaara was going to be pissed if he found out but she didn't really care right now. She _really_ needed a drink. She pulled on her shoes and quietly slipped out of the window.

She jumped down to the street, the night air already making her feel a little better. She knew better than to go to the local bars, Gaara would find out if she had been there so she made her way to the nearest convenient store. It was obviously closed this late at night but that didn't stop her. She easily picked the lock on the back door and slipped in. She grabbed the largest bottle of Vodka she could and left after leaving money on the counter. She only stole when she had to. Now that she had money she had no problem paying for the stuff she took. She opened the bottle immediately after leaving the store and took a large drink straight from the bottle. The liquor burned going down but she immediately felt better .She dropped the cap on the ground, not planning on needing it. If she couldn't fall asleep then she was just going to have to drink till she passed out.

By the time she wandered home, more than half the bottle was gone and she was very much drunk. The thoughts from earlier were all still there but now they at least hurt less. She climbed back in through the window, probably quite a bit less quiet than she was when leaving the house almost an hour earlier. She clumsily pulled her shoes off, leaving them by the window.

Someone coughed and she quickly looked up, hiding the bottle behind her back. Gaara was standing in the doorway to the living room. Rayne swore to herself. He looked pissed.

"Where have you been?" he asked, walking into the room.

She took a minute to organize her fuzzy thoughts, making sure she spoke clearly. "I just went out for a short walk."

"You've been gone for more than an hour. And what's that behind you back?"

"What business is it of yours what I do with my time?" she said angrily. It was his fault she needed a drink anyways. If he hadn't brought up all that stuff earlier she wouldn't have needed to go out.

"You're drunk aren't you?" he sighed, the smell of the vodka hitting him.

"No, as a matter of fact I am not!" she glared at him. He walked up to her and grabbed the bottle out from behind her back. He examined it, raising a non-existent eyebrow at her.

She sighed, very annoyed with the still shirtless man in front of her. "Look, I couldn't sleep 'right. It's your fault anyway." She pushed passed him and went to sit down on the couch. Unfortunately for her she misjudged the exact location of the couch and sat too far on the edge and slipped right off, landing hard on her ass. Her ears burned with embarrassment for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night. _Damn that fucking Kazekage, always making me look like a fucking idiot!" _She just sat there for a moment seething with anger."Everythin' is your fault you jackass!" she cursed.

Gaara sighed with annoyance. He walked over to her and hesitantly helped her to her feet. "Rayne go to bed." He said motioning for her to sit down.

She shoved him away from her. "I don't need your help. You're not the boss of me and I can do whatever the hell I want so give me the fucking bottle back!"

He crossed his arms still holding the bottle in his hand. There was no way she was getting the bottle back. He sighed again. He didn't understand how this kept happening. Every time he thought he was getting somewhere she went and did something stupid like this and messed everything up. "Rayne, just go to bed. You're drunk."

"I can't fuckin' sleep! It's your fault I'm drunk. If you wouldn't of brought up all that stupid shit earlier…" she stopped midsentence, surprised by how her voice cracked. She could feel her throat getting chocked up. Tears stung at the back of her eyes, wanting to come out. "Fuck!" she swore again.

Gaara lowered his arms as things started to connect. Obviously the stuff he had brought up earlier had bothered her more than she let on. He felt stupid for not realizing it earlier when she had come to talk to him. He handed her back the bottle and she cleared her throat before taking a large sip. She held the bottle close to her.

"Look, I'm… I'm sorry. Please, just come on and go to bed." He lightly held her shoulder and led her down the hall." She protested the entire way to his room telling him that she was fine and didn't need to go to bed and that she didn't need his help but she didn't resist. He brought her into his room and sat her down on his bed. "Just stay in here for the night.

Rayne took another drink before falling over onto her side. She was so dizzy that it just seemed like a good idea. It had nothing to do with the fact that Gaara had told her to, she reasoned with herself.

The Kazekage rolled his eyes as some of the liquor splashed out of the bottle and onto his clean bed but he didn't say anything. Rayne didn't even seem to notice. He reached out to take the bottle back from her but she glared at him and held it tighter.

"Don't you even think about it" she growled. He just stood over her silently for a few moments and she tried to ignore him. She was still mad at him even if he did give her his bed. After another few moments of silence she reached down and set the bottle on the floor before turning over and facing away from him. She didn't even want to look at him at the moment. _What business did he have bringing up all of my personal business? What the fuck did he need to know all that for?_

Gaara just shook his head. He left the bottle where it was, not wanting to risk her getting more angry. He picked up a blanket from the bed and threw it over her before turning away and walking towards the door.

The blanket settled over her and she heard him walking away and could already feel the emptiness creeping back in. And just like that she wasn't mad at him anymore. "Please don't leave me alone" she whined. "I'm sorry…" She just needed him to stay.

Gaara stopped just as he was about to close the door behind himself. He slowly walked back into the room and stood by the bed. He wasn't sure what to do.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am. Can you just stay here tonight?"

"Uhh… Rayne, I don't think that's appropriate… I should probably just go." He said nervously. He wasn't sure what she meant by it but she was drunk and he didn't want to take any chances.

"Please, Kankuro lets me sleep in his bed. It's just he's already asleep and I didn't want to wake him up and really we're just sleeping. Please."

"You've been sleeping with my brother?" he asked. She still had her back towards him so it was hard to read what she meant by what she was saying. He really did believe it was just the alcohol that was making her talk.

"Well, yeah. I mean it not like we are _sleeping _together; he just lets me sleep in his bed. I just have a hard time sleeping sometimes. I guess it helps."

Rayne wasn't sure what she was doing anymore. All she knew was that when he was here she felt better and right now that was all that mattered. She couldn't even face him as she talked so she had no idea what he was doing. She had no idea if she had finally gotten some sort of expression to come across his stupid stoic face. "You know just forget it. Never mind. I didn't say anything, goodnight." Then she heard him walking over to the other side of the room. He came into her line of vision and she saw him hesitantly sit down on the edge of the bed. She immediately turned over, still wanting to save herself the embarrassment of him actually looking at her.

Things were very quiet and both of them could feel the tension surrounding them. Neither of them knew what to say. They stayed like that for a long while. Gaara would never admit it but to know that his brother wasn't sleeping with Rayne was a big relief. It had kept him awake on more than a few occasions when he heard her go into there. It wasn't that he had any feelings for the girl but it had just seemed wrong for the two of them to be having that kind of relationship. Gaara slowly relaxed a little and pulled his legs up onto the bed. Rayne moved next to him, seeming to wipe her eyes.

"I sorry to be such a bother." She mumbled, breaking the silence.

"It's fine…" he murmured in response.

"No it's not."

"Really, Rayne, it's fine." The more he thought about it the more he started to realize that the nights she was left alone were the nights that she spent pacing in the living room. She never seemed to have any problem falling asleep when everyone was home and out in the living room, or when she stayed in Kankuro's room. "Don't like being alone?"

She was quiet for a while then replied with a simple, "I guess…"

He couldn't help but think about how often she must have been alone when she was in jail. He had seen the inside of prisons before. They were all cold, dark, and either terribly silent or filled with the echoing shouts of the other inmates. Either way it must have been a horrible experience. The thought of her sitting in a cold dark cell all by herself… He shouldn't think of it. It shouldn't matter. It wasn't his job to worry about it or care. He finally settled so that he was now fully lying down. He crossed his arms across his chest.

"You know I guess I should also thank you for getting me out of jail" she said. Gaara turned his head to look at her but she didn't turn around.

She had no idea why she was telling him but she blamed it again on the alcohol and her just not caring right now. "The second time I escaped was during the chunin exams. With all the commotion that was going on during your… fight, security was crazy low. The sound ninja and all that stuff." She finally turned around to face Gaara but stared down, not wanting to see his face. It just didn't feel like an actual thank you if he was just looking at her back. "I saw some of your fight with that Uzumaki kid. Luckily I was headed in the other direction of you guys but I mean it was pretty big so hard to miss. I mean you were I giant raccoon thing so…"

"Yeah I know…" was his only reply. That was a different him than the person he was now and he didn't like to spend a bunch of time thinking about it.

"Nara Shikamaru's first mission as a Chunin was to bring me back. Needless to say, he was successful. I had to have broken out at least three or four other times though."

"Was he the one you got into a fight with the other day?" Kankuro had told him that she had been injured from a fight with an 'old friend'. He wasn't sure what really happened. Shikamaru had said the same thing to Temari though when she had asked about the cut on his face.

"Yeah, bastard pushed me of a fuckin' roof. Fuckin' hurt…" she mumbled back. "He wasn't looking for me though. They took him off the job of tracking me down after a while. It wasn't a big deal."

"I see."

"You know the last time I got out was also because of you now that I think of it. You went missing and everyone freaked out and security was pretty low that day because of everything that was going on. Snuck right out of the place."

Gaara remained silent, not knowing what to say. She was hard enough to talk to on a regular basis. Now that she was this intoxicated anything he said could potentially upset her. Who knows what she would try to do if the conversation went south.

"I just… thanks I guess. For everything else too." Rayne said as she turned over once again. She was being dumb but she had told her story and now she was going to shut up before she could say anything else she would potentially regret in the morning. She rolled back over onto her side just to make sure he couldn't look at her. She was surprised when she felt her back press into his arm. She was about to move but the ever so slight contact seemed to make her feel a little better. Rayne focused on that small warm spot on her back for a while, hoping he was thinking nothing of it.

The two of them sat like that for a while in silence. Rayne could clearly hear the sounds of his breathing next to her and slowly it was starting to put her to sleep. And she almost did fall asleep until she felt something off in Madarou's mood. He was worried. It took her a minute to guess what it was and when she did she suddenly bolted upright.

"Fuck!" she swore immediately throwing back the covers. She had to get out of there. _What the hell am I thinking!?_ Sure it _might_ have had something to do with the alcohol but either way she looked at it she was still acting like a fool. Her entire goal was to hide. That had been her reason for leaving the leaf and coming here. It was supposed to be temporary until she could head out again. But instead of resting up and getting the fuck out of town she had ended up staying here. She became a fucking shinobi in this village. She was sleeping in the same bed as the Kazekage; the Kazekage who was allied with the leaf village. The man who now knew her whole back story that she had for the longest time tried to keep secret. "Fucking shit!" she swore again.

"Rayne, what's wrong?" he called, sitting up alarmed.

"What the fuck am I doing!?" she cursed under her breath. She ran her hands through her hair nervously. He had said he wasn't going to turn her in but how could she trust him? He was practically the enemy.

"Rayne what is going on?" he asked. He had no idea what had gone wrong this time.

"Why the hell am I telling you all this?" she mumbled under her breath. "I was always able to keep my fucking mouth shut! What the hell did I just do? Damn it!" she quickly got out of bed and grabbed her bottle up off the floor. Gaara quickly followed suit and hopped out of bed.

"Rayne…" he called, cautiously.

She looked around the room, trying to think if any of her few belongings could be in here. "I… I have to go. I have to leave right now." She cursed herself again. The damn alcohol was still very much in her system making it very hard to remember where she put all of her stuff. It almost didn't matter. She had to leave, now. She looked back at Gaara's worried face. "I'm…" She just shook her head and bolted towards the door.

Gaara quickly reached out and grabbed her. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in his head and a deafening snarl rang through his ears. He clutched at his head with his free hand as visions of snapping teeth flashed through his mind. He grimaced at what could only be Madarou's attack but didn't let go of her arm. He looked at her and saw an expression he remembered from when he first met her. She was terrified. She tried to yank her arm free from his grasp but he held tight.

"Rayne stop. Calm down."

"Damn it Gaara, let me go" she growled threateningly. She was surprised that Madarou's attack had almost no effect on him. Most people would have let go.

"Will you just stop? What is going on with you?" He could feel her shaking as he tightly held her arm.

"I need to leave. Right now. Let go of my fucking arm or I swear…" He looked so concerned. Alright so maybe he wasn't the enemy. She still needed to get out of there. It wasn't safe there. It never was. She was putting everyone at risk by being here though. How could she have been so stupid?

"Rayne, I don't think you are thinking clearly right now. Just calm down, please." He felt her relax a little in his grip.

"I am thinking clearly. Clearer than I have been the last few months. I shouldn't be here. I have to leave Gaara." She dropped her arm down but he didn't let go of her. "I have to go…"

"No one here is going to hurt you. You know that."

She had to admit that he was probably right about that. If they wanted to turn her in they could have done it months ago. All of a sudden her body didn't seem to want to work anymore. Her legs felt like jelly and the room seemed to be spinning more than it was when she first stumbled into here. Her knees suddenly gave in and she sunk to the floor only to be caught by Gaara. She remembered the bottle of vodka in her hand and took a long drink to calm herself down. She grimaced as it burned her throat.

Gaara sighed heavily as she took another drink. He pulled her up and sat her back down on the bed. She seemed be calming down at least. He stood beside her, holding the bottle he had once again gotten away from her. He wasn't a drinker himself but she had shown him enough to convince him that the stuff was evil. He waited in silence for a while, waiting to see what she would do next. "Are… are you okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"No. I shouldn't be here." She said after a long pause. "I shouldn't be doing this. I'm such an idiot…" she replied sadly. She suddenly reached out and grabbed the bottle back from him. Gaara could only roll his eyes as she drained the rest of the contents and let the empty bottle drop to the floor. She fell over onto her side and curled up on the bed.

Gaara laid down on the other side of the bed sighing heavily. Dealing with her consumed a surprisingly large amount of energy. He kept a close watch on her in case she decided to run again. "If it means anything, I don't think you are an idiot. Nor are you doing anything wrong for that matter."

"I'm a burden to you and your family. You shouldn't have to watch out for me. You probably are all in danger for just letting me stay here."

He searched for a while for the right words to say. "I don't think you are a burden to them. I think both Temari and Kankuro like you. If they want to protect you then it's only because you are their friend. What's so wrong with that?"

"I don't need protecting, nor do I deserve it."

"You are impossible to reason with." He said trying to sound lighthearted.

Rayne sighed and stretched out on the bed. "You don't get it Gaara. I don't deserve all the things you have done for me." She was silent for a while, not sure if she should go on. He deserved to know the truth though. She sighed again as she stared up at the ceiling. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. "You don't know the whole story. I've done things… terrible things. I've killed people Gaara…"

He didn't want to push her anymore tonight. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I have no right to judge you. You know things I've done, the damage I have caused."

She turned over onto her side, her back pressing into his arm slightly. She didn't know what else to say. He didn't seem to want listen. How could he not see what a problem she was? She shivered unconsciously. Gaara shifted besides her and she was surprised when he pulled the covers up over her.

"Just try to get some sleep tonight. You're safe here." He said placing his hand onto her arm.

She flinched slightly at the contact but relaxed a moment later. His hand felt warm and seemed to calm her down. She tried to remind herself that he didn't want to hurt her. She leaned back into him, surprised by the warmth his chest radiated into her back. His arm wrapped around her, gently pulling her closer. She felt a little better when she felt his heart pounding in his chest just as hard as her own. It meant that she wasn't the only one feeling something.

Gaara was painfully aware of how hard his heart was beating. But the fact that she wasn't running meant that he had to be doing something right. He was surprised by how nice this felt. He had never experienced this kind of human contact before. He never really knew how warm, how comforting it was.

Feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathed and his strong arm around her seemed to calm her down. All of the worries she had seemed to fade out of focus for the time being. She knew they would eventually be back but for now she was calm. Gaara began to trace swirls onto her arm with his thumb. It sent pleasant tingles down her back and for the first time in a long time she felt normal. If she closed her eyes right now she could imagine that everything was fine. It could be her life if she hadn't gone on that mission, if she hadn't died. She could just be a normal person, living a normal life with her family and friends still. She would have a boyfriend that would hold her at night like Gaara did now. She knew it was pointless to think about it though. This was her life whether she wanted it or not. She couldn't help but feel bad as she fell asleep in his arms, knowing that he didn't know the full story.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Thanks for reading, hope it didn't suck. I will try to put the next chapter up soon.  
>~Reiko<p> 


	19. Chapter 18

Here you go, the (not-so) long awaited next chapter of Rayne. Please enjoy!

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Kankuro stretched as he walked towards the kitchen the next morning. Both Shikamaru and Temari were already sitting at the table sipping tea. Rayne was nowhere to be seen and he wondered where she had gone too after last night. He was surprised she hadn't come back to bed after she talked to Gaara. He couldn't help but feel she might have gotten herself into trouble or something. Knowing her she was probably out wandering the village last night and ended up passing out somewhere. He wouldn't put it past her to have gotten lost. Shikamaru waved as both him and Temari saw Kankuro enter the kitchen.

"When did you guys get here?" he asked. He looked over at the clock and was surprised to see that it was almost eleven. The last few days had been rough though so he almost wasn't surprised that he had slept this late.

"Just a little while ago" answered his sister. "I need to pack my stuff. We are leaving for the leaf village later today."

"How were the meetings yesterday?" Kankuro asked grabbing himself a seat at the table

"Boring" Shikamaru replied. "But unfortunately necessary. This is such a huge and tiresome event, I never will understand how I got dragged into doing all this work" the leaf shinobi responded, shaking his head.

"I can't believe it's time for this already…" Kankuro replied. This particular event was already bringing back plenty of memories from his own experience in it years ago.

"Now that was a year to remember," Temari sighed. The eldest sand sibling stood up from the table. "I better go pack; we are already behind schedule so we can't afford to get there late." She pushed her chair in and headed to her room, taking her tea with her.

"That reminds me, I need to talk to Gaara before I leave. Do you know where he is?" asked Shikamaru.

"I don't think he has come out yet. I doubt he's still asleep though. You can just head down to his room." Kankuro motioned with his hand as he stood up. His stomach had started growling rather loudly and it was about time he shut it up. He began rummaging through the cabinets as Shikamaru nodded and headed down the hall.

Shikamaru reached the Kazekage's door and hesitated a moment before knocking. No matter how much time he spent in this house or with Temari and her family, one on one encounters with the Kazekage still made him a little uneasy. "How troublesome" he mumbled before knocking lightly on the door. He reached for the handle and quietly slid the door open.

He was surprised that the curtains were still drawn and that the room was completely dark. Gaara was still asleep. Shikamaru didn't want to think about what would happen if he woke him up. He quickly backed away and almost closed the door when something caught his attention. There was no way he was seeing this.

The Kazekage was indeed still sound asleep, but there was something wrapped in his arms, or someone to be more specific; and he would have recognized that red hair anywhere. She had her back to him, with her face buried in his chest, but there was no doubt about it. It had to be her. Almost as if she had heard his thoughts, she suddenly turned over in her sleep. _It's really her! What the hell is she doing here? What is she doing with the Kazekage?!_

"Kankuro?"

The young man looked up to see his sister standing in the doorway. He swallowed hard, having been in the middle of stuffing his face with food.

"Have you seen Rayne today? I've searched the whole house and I can't find her. She borrowed a scroll of mine and I need it for my trip."

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "No I haven't seen her since last night. I think something might have happened between her and Gaara though. He probably was the last one to see her."

Temari stood there thinking for a moment, wondering if it was worth the risk of waking her brother up for this. It wasn't like him to sleep this late so something must have been up.

"Hey for all we know maybe they're both in his room" he smirked. "If you know what I mean."

Temari just rolled her eyes. The two of them together? No way in hell. "Well can you at least tell me where Shikamaru went?"

"You must have just missed him. I just sent him…" he stopped himself. "Oh no…"

"What?"

"I just sent him to Gaara's room. What if Rayne…"

Temari looked at him seriously for a second. "You don't really think Rayne's in there do you?"

"I don't know but I'm sure we will find out any second now" he smirked.

Temari took a few steps back and turned around, only to run into Shikamaru. "Oh, there you are…"

"Did you find Gaara?" called Kankuro.

Shikamaru sat back down at the table and pulled out his cigarettes. He lit one up and inhaled deeply. "No" he finally responded. "I knocked on the door but he didn't answer. He's either not there or still sleeping."

Temari couldn't help but notice that something was off with her boyfriend. She knew he tried to limit his smoking, knowing that it wasn't the best of habits to pick up. The only time he really did it was when something was bothering him and being the laid back guy he was, it took a lot to actually bother him. He looked alright but…

He stood up before she could say anything. "You know what. I'm going to go wait in Gaara's office." He put his cigarette out and started walking away from the table. "You finish packing, alright? Just have your brother meet me when he gets up."

"Yeah sure thing. Is everything okay?" she asked concerned.

"Of course." He said giving her a smirk. "I just remembered there were still some plans I had to go over really quick so I'm going to finish them up in the office."

"Alright, well I'll try to hurry then." She said before heading back to her room. Something was definitely wrong, and she didn't take kindly to bullshit. That boy knew better than to lie to her. She was going to get to the bottom of this sooner or later.

Shikamaru headed towards the office leaving Kankuro alone in the kitchen to shovel more food into his mouth.

Gaara woke up about 20 minutes later. His eyes immediately shot open. Someone else was in the room with him. He tried to sit up quickly but was surprise to find his arm pinned beneath something; it had completely fallen asleep.

Rayne.

He sighed and sank back down, taking a deep breath. He turned his head and looked out the window. It was already way too late in the day. He couldn't understand how he had slept this long. He hardly ever slept to begin with. He had to admit though, that had been one of the best nights of sleep he had ever had. Not to mention that lying here in bed was surprisingly comfortable, especially with someone else lying beside him. Sure it would have been better if his arm wasn't asleep; or if she didn't reek of alcohol. He scrunched his nose up in disgust. How did he end up taking care of someone like her? He rolled his eyes and sighed. For some reason he didn't mind it as much as he should have.

Careful not to wake her, he gently slid his arms out from around her. He climbed out of bed and picked a shirt up off the floor. Rayne sighed deeply and shifted on the bed, but remained sleeping. He slipped the shirt on over his head and headed over to the door. Before opening the door he turned around and got one more look at the girl sleeping in his bed. He shook his head and headed out into the hallway.

He immediately ran into Kankuro.

"You seriously just getting up?"

Gaara nodded his head. "Yeah, strange isn't it?"

"I feel you. Just woke up about a half hour ago myself. Hey, have you seen Rayne? Temari is looking for her. And Shikamaru is waiting in your office for you. Said he had something he wanted to talk to you about."

"She's still asleep" Gaara replied, quickly walking past his younger brother. If Shikamaru was here… it didn't matter, all he had to do was keep him away from Rayne. The young Kazekage walked down the hall and opened the door to his own office. He saw very familiar spikey hair sticking over the back of the chair.

"Good morning Kazekage sama. I hope I'm not keeping you from anything." He tried not to wince at how uncomfortable formal his voice sounded.

"I already told you, feel free to call me by my name." he replied, taking a seat across from the leaf shinobi.

He smiled a little and tried to relax a bit. "Of course, Gaara"

"So what's this about? The upcoming events I am assuming?" He started rearranging the papers on the desk. He didn't have a good feeling about this. What was so important that he had to meet him alone in his office?

Shikamaru was quite for a moment. He was thinking hard, trying to choose his words carefully. "Yes…" Another pause "and no…" This was very dangerous territory he was getting himself into.

Gaara looked up from his desk. He immediately knew from the look on Shikamaru's face that something wasn't right. "What is it?"

"It's about a certain fugitive from the leaf village…" Shikamaru watched Gaara's face closely; trying to get a read on him; trying to get a read on the situation.

Gaara felt a pit form in his stomach. It was a relatively new feeling to him. He was worried; and that was something that rarely happened to him. He did not like it at all.

"What happened? Did someone escape?" he asked. He made sure to sound as sincere as possible; making sure not to give the other man any reason to suspect he knew otherwise.

"Yes, it was a few months ago actually. We- well I have suspicions that she is hiding out in the sand village. Unfortunately I am off the case and have no evidence to prove it so there is nothing being done about it."

Gaara's hands clenched around the arms of the chair so hard his knuckles turned white. Luckily his desk kept them hidden from the other shinobi's view. He hoped his face didn't betray how worried he was inside. "So you need my help finding this woman?"

Shikamaru sighed and leaned forward in his seat. He pressed his fingertips together and looked down at them. Gaara recognized that pose. He was thinking; working out a strategy. He didn't like where this was going. "Gaara, I know Rayne is here…"

Gaara's stomach felt like it dropped. "I-"

Before he could even say something Shikamaru cut him off. "Look, like I said I'm off the case. I don't have any desire to bring her back and I sure as hell don't want to get caught up in the middle of it. That is way too much work for me. You guys are friends of mine so I need to at least warn you about what you are getting into. I don't know what is going on between the two of you, but Gaara, there are some things you really need to know about that girl."

Gaara tried to relax a little. He wasn't after Rayne. "I know about the demon." There was no point in denying things. Shikamaru was smarter than that.

"So she did tell you?" he asked, looking a little shocked. He didn't expect Rayne to reveal such a big secret to anyone really. There was something very odd going on here.

"To some extent, yes. She can be rather… difficult to get information from sometimes."

Shikamaru chuckled. "You don't even know the half of it. She's very troublesome." The young man sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Gaara, I'll be honest with you. She isn't a bad person, I know that, but I don't know how much control she really has. That demon of hers isn't particularly nasty but it's a demon none the less, and it does get a little… stir crazy after a time and if she lets her control skip… There have been a few accidents."

"Accidents?" Gaara asked. He had to admit, this talk was making him feel a little more at ease. He felt like he was really getting somewhere, really had a chance to learn about her past. Even if it did feel a little like he was going behind her back to get it.

"People are dead, a lot of people." Shikamaru said. His tone suddenly got a lot darker.

Gaara nodded his head. He knew something must have happened. She had admitted it to him last night but he had decided not to press the issue farther.

"There was a village near by when she first woke up after the demon was placed into her. It was a massacre. Lots of innocent people were killed before her brother could finally stop her. I saw pictures from the report. It was like something out of a nightmare Gaara. That wasn't the only time either. One night she completely destroyed her prison cell, killing a few other inmates in the process. We lost two shinobi before her brother was there to stop it. Luckily he was still in the village. Same thing with the one night she escaped. She took out half a dozen shinobi and almost killed her best friend. She doesn't look like it but she is very much a danger. Rayne doesn't always have the best control of her emotions and when things get bad enough, it gets ugly fast. We can't just let a demon run wild. She needs to be watched."

There was something in the way Shikamaru said it that really grated on his nerves. _Demon._ It always came down to the demon. All the horrors he experienced in his own life were the work of _a demon._ He was hated and feared because of _a demon._ The same thing was happening to her. Rayne wasn't a danger. It was _a demon_ that she never even wanted that was the problem yet she still had to deal with the consequences of it. "Well I can assure you that as a former _demon_ myself; I will have no problem taking care of it if a problem arose. I wouldn't let a demon run wild in my city" he said, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was a little offended.

"Look Gaara, I didn't mean it like that. I like Rayne, I really do. I just don't want another repeat. She has enough on her conscious already. None of us want more blood on our hands because of this. I just want you to be aware of the situation. I want you and the rest of your family, especially your sister to be safe."

The Kazekage sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry. I know you don't mean anything by it. I can promise I will watch out for Rayne. I just don't want to see her end up in prison again for something that isn't necessarily her fault."

Shikamaru nodded. "As long as you understand the situation."

"I won't let anything happen to anyone. I will keep Temari, Kankuro, Rayne and the rest of my village safe. It's my job as Kazekage, as leader of the village."

"Good" Shikamaru was surprised that things went as well as they did. He was expecting something more… explosive to come out of this. He had walked into Gaara's office moments ago wishing that he had told Temari that he had loved her one last time.

"Now that that is out of the way, shall we discuss what your main reason for coming here?" asked Gaara, who was equally surprised that thing had gone as well as they had did.

"Ah, yes of course Kazekage-sama, eh I mean Gaara."

The Kazekage sighed, feeling a little relief. "So about this upcoming event…"

About a half hour later Shikamaru left, asking Temari just to meet him at the gate. Another 20 minutes later Temari was heading out the door with Kankuro and Gaara behind her; both brothers having decided to walk with her to the gate. They had barely made it out the door when someone called to them. They all turned around as Rayne jumped down out of one of the upper windows of the house.

"Didn't think you were going to leave without saying goodbye to me did you?" she called, running up them.

"Wouldn't dream of it" smiled Temari.

"Just thought you could use your beauty sleep," said Kankuro. "Sure looks like you need it."

Rayne shot a glare over at the laughing boy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing at all" he laughed.

"That's what I thought," she grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Aww, Rayne. You know I'm just kidding."

She punched the older boy hard in the arm. "Of course I do," she laughed as Kankuro rubbed his sore arm.

"Damn, why the hell did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Oh, don't be a baby," The young kunoichi grinned and hurried over to Temari before Kankuro got any sort of idea to retaliate.

Temari just laughed along with them. "You guys seriously act like you are 8 years old sometimes." The group of them all continued walking towards the gate together. Any tension that had existed that morning was quickly forgotten.

When Rayne had woken up that morning Gaara had already left. She had also been very surprised by how late it already was. Her hangover was for the most part, already fading. She still none the less grumbled and turned her face into the pillow, blocking the light from her eyes. Her memories from the night before slowly sank in as she laid face down like that. She groaned into the pillow. Some parts were a bit unclear but she knew she acted like an idiot. Gaara was probably already gone because he couldn't face her, which was okay because she didn't even want to look at him right now. She had acted like a complete psychopath last night. And worst of all she looked weak, something she had prided herself on not doing… ever. Somehow that damn Kazekage always managed to make her look like a fool no matter how hard she tried. When she heard everyone moving about the house she slowly forced herself out of bed. She still was finding it hard to believe that she had actually spent the night sharing a bed with the Kazekage. She felt her face grow hot in embarrassment just thinking about it. She smacked herself in the head a few times as she walked towards the bathroom hoping to dislodge the thought from her brain.

She took a very quick shower to wash away the smell of booze and got dressed just as everyone was leaving the house. She looked out the window and decided then and there that it would definitely take way too much time to use the front door. She slid the window opened and jumped down to the ground next to them. Now that they were all walking to the front gates together she made sure to stay as far away from Gaara as possible. Every time she thought about the way last night went down her heart pounded faster and it only pissed her off. She couldn't even make eye contact with the guy now. "Stupid brat" she mumbled to herself.

They all continued walking to the gates, laughing and having a good time when out of nowhere a hawk suddenly swooped down out of the sky. They all looked up and Kankuro held out his arm for the Sand Village messenger hawk. It landed gracefully and stuck out its leg. Kankuro quickly untied the paper. As soon as the note was free the bird immediately took off, soaring back up into the sky.

Kankuro quietly read the note over a few times before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He swore under his breath.

"I have another meeting to go to guys. Sorry I can't finish this walk. See you soon though Temari." He walked away from the group pouting like a kid. If it was one thing he hated most about being leader of a team it was all the meetings he had to sit through recently.

As they got closer to the gate Rayne picked up on a familiar chakra. Shikamaru was close by. She figured as much anyways. Temari was leaving with him after all.

"Alright Temari, well I wish you the best of luck and safe travels and all that good shit. I have to get going. I promised Akio that I would kick his ass today and I really have to keep my appointments you know." Rayne slowly backed away from the group, waving goodbye. Both Temari and Gaara gave her rather strange looks but it looked like Gaara was having similar problems as she was today and didn't make eye contact with her. He simply grunted in acknowledgment and continued walking.

"Alright then Rayne, I'll see you soon." She smirked and Rayne couldn't help but feel like the oldest sibling was hinting at something. She shot her a weird look but Temari just waved it off.

The two remaining sand siblings continued on. Rayne waited till they were out of sight before turning and walking back to the house. She didn't really have plans today and was pretty sure Akio wasn't even home right now (nor would he appreciate an ass-kicking) so she was content to just wander the village for a while. To be honest she had no desire to head back home and see Gaara.

In a short amount of time Rayne had once again managed to get herself lost. No matter how hard she tried, navigation was just not her thing. She had even been known to get lost back when she was living in the leaf and she had grown up there for god's sake. She sighed and looked around. Not a single fucking building looked familiar. She looked around clueless hoping to see something at least a little familiar.

"Rayne?"

_Yes! I'm saved! Someone who knows me! _She quickly turned around and her smile disappeared from her face faster than it appeared. Fucking Gaara.

The Kazekage walked over to her. "What are you doing around here? I thought you said you were going to see Akio."

"Little bitch chickened out on me or something. Didn't end up showing. Thought I would wander around a bit instead."

"And now you're lost again?" he asked. Rayne could make out the faintest trace of a grin on his face.

She couldn't stand that arrogant tone he just used with her. She scowled. "I am not _lost" _she insisted. "I am simply adventuring thank you very much."

"So I'm sure you don't need me to show you how to get home then?"

"Of course not. Although I do plan on returning home soon anyways so if you would prefer to have a body guard, watching your very important back then just say the word. As a shinobi of this village it would be my honor to serve you," she said back, laying the sarcasm on thick.

Gaara just rolled his eyes. "Let's go"

Rayne folded her arms and followed after him a few steps behind. Of course she had gotten lost and of course he had to be the one to find her. It always ended up this way. She leaned her head back and looked at the sky as she walked. She couldn't help but notice a few of the messenger hawks, like the one they saw earlier, circling about.

"Hey Gaara, where does Kankuro keep running off to lately?" she asked out of simple curiosity. There had been an increasing number of meetings her "sensei" had been called off to in this last month.

Gaara slowed his pace so he was now walking next to her. "I have actually been meaning to talk to you about this. You can't say anything to anyone else about this but given your circumstances I thought it best to tell you. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that in a few weeks' time the next chunin exams will be coming up."

That didn't exactly sound like good news to her. A big event where important people from all the major shinobi villages gathered? Yeah, it made her a little uneasy. "So what's the bad news?" she asked, almost afraid to know.

"This year it's hosted at the Leaf again and your team has been highly recommended."

"Aww shit," she swore.

"This is why Temari and Shikamaru are working so closely together right now. Kankuro has been heading off to meetings with other leaders of gennin squads. I personally would highly advise you not going, but since when have you listened to a thing I have said."

She couldn't help but notice the bitter tone he had. He was right though, both on how she shouldn't go and how she didn't like to listen. It wouldn't be fair to Akio and Hitoshi though. Both of them deserved to go and you couldn't enter without a three man team unless there were special circumstances.

"I thought I could at least give you a heads up. You'll have about a week to think about it before Kankuro announces it to the rest of your team."

"I understand, thank you," she said sounding as sincere as possible. But her mind was a bit far away now, thinking about what the hell she was going to do about these exams.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Surprise! Chunin exam time! We'll just have to see how this turns out now wont we? Let me know what you guys think and I'll try to get the next chapters up a little sooner seeing as I have almost five whole chapters just sitting there, all finished, just waiting to be uploaded...  
>~Reiko<p> 


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